Another Verse
by Farla
Summary: Bonnibel will get her first pokemon. She will be happy and smiling. She'll go on a journey, she'll catch pokemon, and she'll live out the dream every mother wants for her child. That's how this song always goes. It won't hurt to hear it again. After all, you're only unhappy when you want things you can't have.
1. There once were pokemon that

This fic came about from playing Moon, but this isn't something based on my particular playthrough. It's about how I ended up interpreting the world and characters, including the player character whose smile features in so many cutscenes. Some elements have been moved around to make a better narrative.

* * *

The sun is setting when Bonnibel first meets Kukui in the flesh, without that badly raised rockruff she'd seen during their video chat. "But," he says, "this sure is the perfect time for you to get your first look at Alola! You'd burn to a crisp if you try taking any long walks at noon, cousin!"

He and her mother both laugh. Alola may be brighter than Kanto, but her mother's skin is closer to Kukui's than Bonnibel's. "Bonnibel takes so much after her father," her mother says. "She doesn't tan at all - just gets pink! But I've got some gallons of sunscreen ready."

This is not hyperbole. While her mother assumes any place catering to tourists wanting to spend the day at the beach would have high-SPF sunscreen around, "Not all ratings are the same!" as her mother has discussed earnestly with other parents many times before. The brand Bonnibel's mother buys is certified, with a big shiny official stamp, to block A ultraviolet waves as well as B, scored well in multiple tests for consistency and other factors, and uses an alternate formula designed for sensitive skin to avoid concerns about chemical buildup from daily use, just to be on the safe side.

Her mom was happy to do the research, and happy to pay extra for one that's just right. Her daughter's always been pale. She has a photo album documenting Bonnibel's life from pale infant all the way through pale eleven year old. There's a picture of her in her father's arms, a pale hand supporting an equally pale bald head. Being so terribly pale may be an inconvenience, but it's part of the whole Bonnibel package.

And her mom, now, is happy to send her out with Kukui, and even more happy when she hears who he wants her to meet. Getting Bonnibel a pokemon was another thing on the post-move checklist - "Something we've been putting off for too long!" - and getting a special one as a gift is precisely the sort of thing her mother would want for her. Bonnibel is ushered back upstairs to collect her things and put on the red beanie her mom had bought for her just before they left.

Kukui chatters away as they walk. "Folks here in Alola get along by living together with pokemon and working together, too," he tells her, as if that's different from how it is in Kanto, in Johto, in Unova, in Kalos. She smiles and nods as he keeps running through all the standard platitudes. "You can go anywhere, yeah, as long as you got pokemon helping you out here!" and "Having pokemon gives you a whole new way to communicate with other people, see?" Like he's got to sell this, when it isn't like anyone ever says no. Perhaps he's unsettled by the fact she doesn't have a pokemon already. Perhaps he's concerned there just won't be enough enthusiasm on her part, which would, after all, be quite the disaster. He doesn't need to worry. She's smiling. She always is. She's a happy child, her mom says, and everyone's happy to get their first pokemon, so Bonnibel is happy.

When they reach the center of town, he also tells her about how people here worship some pokemon they say guards them. Well, he says worship, but it sounds closer to a mascot than a god. A little more old-fashioned than other places, it sounds, but still nothing really different. It's not surprising. People are more or less the same everywhere.

She doesn't think much of Lillie or Nebby at the time. The sound of a pokemon throwing a public tantrum attracts her eyes for a moment as she wonders if Alolan trainers are generally subpar, and then they catch on the set of worn, mossy stones on either side of the path while the pokemon and her carrier head out of sight. She thought they were leading to the main area, but it looks like they continue to somewhere else. And... It's not like she's never seen statues like that, but...there certainly aren't many left standing these days, and none she knows of that aren't rapidly being scoured down to nothing in empty deserts. Bonnibel...Bonnibel saw them...in a glossy picture in a book, at her school, during a lesson about Unova's desert. Bonnibel has only ever lived in Kanto before, and so the statues have no meaning to her, but Bonnibel is a curious child, her mom says. She touches the smooth stone on the right, still warm from the sun, and decides to head into the forest to find out if whatever they led to is still there.

Maybe it's a bit rude to wander off when she's supposed to be waiting for, or perhaps looking for, the kahuna, but it's be understandable. Bonnibel can be absent-minded, her mom says.

Up ahead, she finds the girl is in an argument with her pokemon, which is just sad. " **I wanna I wanna I wanna!** "

"You can't come out!"

" **I wanna!** "

"We'll get in trouble if anyone sees you!"

The girl really needs to learn how to handle pokemon properly, or at least about pokeballs so she won't be able to cause a public scene.

The bag jerks forward. The girl's pulled along for a few steps before losing control completely, which is exactly how she should expect things to go without a pokeball involved. The pokemon flies out and away. " **Wheeee! Haha! Wheeeee! I'm - aaaaaah!** "

The girl just stands there at the edge of the bridge as the pokemon screams. Bonnibel thinks she's trying to teach the pokemon a lesson - so many people who can't handle their pokemon through firm consistency seem to think grand punishments can make up the difference - but then she turns to Bonnibel and her face is scrunched like she's the one in pain.

Bonnibel smiles at her. "What's wrong?"

" **Mama!** "

The girl doesn't even answer the question, jumping straight to a demand that Bonnibel "Save Nebby!"

" **Mama!** "

The girl babbles something about being scared, like she needs to apologize for not fighting off wild pokemon for the sake of her pet.

Bonnibel could point out that she hasn't got a pokemon on her.

" **Mama!** "

But they're only spearow. Bonnibel, as her mother says, is adventurous and brave.

The bridge is poorly made and even more poorly maintained, with broken yawning gaps in some of the planks, but she's surefooted enough she could as easily be hopping across the rocks below. Not that she would do that, of course, not that Bonnibel's ever done that, her mother would be horrified to see her with wet clothes. She weaves around the holes, bounces off creaking wood, and pivots her weight when the a plank splinters underfoot, all without missing a beat.

She hasn't got a pokemon, so it's not like she's going to get into a fight here. She gets in the way of them instead, crouching over the sobbing baby. The spearow don't take the hint and go find some other prey. They wave their talons like they expect her to be cowed by a couple scratches.

The pokemon below her stutters, " **I-I-I-** ".

And then the wood planks and rope under Bonnibel is gone and she's falling.

She's going to get wet. She's going to get _soaked_. And with the sun down, how long will it take for her to dry off? She can't stay out that long or her mom will worry anyway, but her mom will be so terribly upset if she finds out Bonnibel fell into a river.

Something smashes into her from the side and she can feel her insides lurch and twist from the sudden change in direction. She ends up back on dry land without a drop on her.

Her apparent rescuer spins through the air and lands a short distance away.

Bonnibel's mom says nothing about how she feels regarding pokemon of legend and myth. So Bonnibel stares, smile forgotten and mouth half open, a breath away from a shout, fists clenching tighter and tighter.

The pokemon lets out a screech and then she shoots straight up to vanish into the night sky.

The girl comes out of her daze first, throwing herself down next to the pokemon Bonnibel is still holding. "Oh thank goodness, thank goodness," she says to her pet. "You tried to use your power again, didn't you? Oh Nebby... You know what happened last time you used it, You couldn't move for ages after that. I don't want to see you like that again! No... I shouldn't say that. I'm sorry, Nebby. I know you were trying to save me that time. And I couldn't even help you in return..."

She's actually crying.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I..."

She looks up to see Bonnibel. "O-oh! Thank you. I...I wanted to, but the bridge, it's so high up and the ground..."

"You shouldn't be going near flocks of spearow either," Bonnibel points out. "It's dangerous for a person. You need to train your pokemon better, or get a better one."

The little pokemon squacks, " **No!** " like she expects anyone to care what she has to say.

"Oh - n-no, no, I'm not a pokemon trainer." She looks away from Bonnibel. There's a moment of silence, interrupted by the pokemon puffing at something in the dirt. "Oh?" she says, and picks something sparkling off the ground. " _Oh._ " She holds it out, looking back toward Bonnibel but not quite making eye contact. "Please, forgive me... I am so grateful to you for helping us out of that dangerous spot. I think this stone should belong to you. Please..." She raises her eyes again, looking at Bonnibel imploringly. "Don't tell anybody about this... About seeing Nebby... It's... it's a secret, okay?"

Bonnibel nods, smiling wide. "Sure. Please don't tell anybody about me almost falling into the river, either. It would upset my mother terribly."

The girl smiles. "Right! Our secret. Secrets." She breaks eye contact with relief and holds out her dufflebag, which Bonnibel notes now has a pokeball design on either end. "Come on. Into the bag Nebby."

" **Fi-ine,** " Nebby squeaks.

"A real pokeball would work better," Bonnibel tells her.

"Yeah..." She's quiet for a few breaths. "Um..." the girl says, still staring at the ground. "I'm afraid we might get attacked by wild pokemon or... or something. I know it's too much to ask it, but... Do you think you could see us back to town?"

Bonnibel glances at the fallen bridge. Whatever's on the other end will have to wait, and she finds she's not too interested anyway, with what's just happened. "Sure. I'm heading back down myself. I'm supposed to get my first pokemon tonight, from the kahuna." She starts to walk back down, the girl trailing after.

"Oh! Are you...? Oh, I'm sorry, I don't remember your name."

"I'm Bonnibel," Bonnibel says, because she's Bonnibel.

"I'm, um, Lillie," the girl replies. "Kukui was talking about you, how you were moving here from Kanto! You're not a trainer yet...oh, of course not, because you'd have used a pokemon..."

"That's what they're for," Bonnibel says.

"Right..."

Kukui is waiting for them when they reach the bottom. "Hey, Bonnibel! Looks like you missed the kahuna, yeah? But you found my assistant, oh yeah! Looks like you already met, but just in case, this is my assistant! Introduce yourself, Assistant!"

"Oh...um...yes! You can call me Lillie!" Lillie says awkwardly.

"And, Lillie, this here is Bonnibel. She just moved here to Alola!"

Lillie stammers out something about it being nice to meet her while Bonnibel looks about for anyone leaving. If she's only just missed this kahuna, maybe he's still nearby and she can run after him. Her mom will be disappointed if-

Those thoughts, and the unneeded introduction Kukui's overseeing, are interrupted when someone shouts the kahuna's back.

"That's Hala, the chosen one of the island's guardian," Kukui says to her quietly, or as quietly as he's capable of, as the man approaches. "And one of the strongest pokemon users in all Alola, yeah."

"Have I missed something?" Hala asks. His tone is jovial, but there's a faint edge that hints he's fishing for a particular answer.

"Naw, but where'd you go off to, Kahuna? I thought we were meeting here."

"I had to look into a problem," he says. "For some reason, I thought I saw Tapu Koko flying about..."

At her side, the girl startles. "Oh, um... Yes, Kahuna Hala... Nebby was being attacked by spearow on the bridge when this girl came to help, and-"

Bonnibel jumps in with, "I really wasn't able to do much! It was all I could do to carry Nebby back off the bridge. Then this strange pokemon appeared and drove the spearow away. Right, Lillie?"

"Um, r-right. It was Tapu Koko! It swooped in to save them!"

"And then flew away," Bonnibel finishes.

"Woo! That's something you don't hear every day!"

Hala laughs, and says, like an adult talking fondly of a child, "Although it is said to protect us, our Tapu Koko is a rather fickle creature. ...And yet, our guardian was moved to save you."

She wonders if Tapu Koko expects Bonnibel to say anything in her defense. Bonnibel shrugs modestly. "Perhaps Tapu Koko was just passing by. I'm sure it wouldn't take much to move a fickle creature." If Bonnibel's meant to be grateful - no, try somebody else for that, someone who hasn't heard the whole song before. She's not a fan of things that can fly down at their leisure.

"B-but also, it left a sparkling stone behind," Lillie interrupts. "For Bonnibel! You should show him, Bonnibel."

She pulls it from her pocket and hands it over.

"So it even deigned to give you a stone..." Bonnibel is not sure what to make of his expression. "Perhaps you are here in Alola, Bonnibel, because this is where you are meant to be. I think we have cause to celebrate! It seems I should entrust this brave and kind young girl with a pokemon of her own." Bonnibel's smile doesn't falter, but she switches her gaze to Kukui. It seems he may have overstated things when he promised her mother the kahuna would give Bonnibel a pokemon. There's really nothing worse than getting people's hopes up with promises that may not be delivered. But then, perhaps the man always meant to give it, and he's just trying to make it sound more impressive by presenting it as a special gift after what happened. "We'll make a fine young trainer out of her," the man concludes.

Hala steps closer and introduces himself formally as the kahuna of Melemele. He turns to the wooden platform in the center of the clearing, which looks far newer and better kept up than the bridge earlier, and throws three pokeballs onto it.

Bonnibel's not familiar with any of the pokemon, but then, she's never been to Alola before. Hala introduces each in turn: a rowlet, who chirps " **Hey!** " and turns herself awkwardly in a circle; a litten, who jumps a little and meows " **Hello...** " with hopeful restraint; and a popplio, who flips his back fins up to clap in excitement, barking " **Cool, right?** "

"Popplio," she says. Perky and happy so long as he's getting some sort of attention, he'll probably give her the least difficulty.

"Only when you have both chosen each other can you truly call each other partners," Hala tells her. "So let us see if little Popplio there also decides to choose you!"

It's a joke, but Bonnibel is a polite and respectful child, as her mother always says, so she keeps a friendly smile on her face. She climbs onto the platform, holds out her hands to the one she decided on and lifts the popplio into the air when he hops into her arms without hesitation, barking happily, " **Of course I love you!** "

For some reason, while the others smile, Lillie looks upset. Maybe this is the one she was hoping for. She did claim not to be a trainer yet.

"Ho! So little Popplio has accepted you as well, Bonnibel!"

"Having accepted one another, you'll surely be friends for life! Going to give it a nickname?" asks Kukui.

Bonnibel shakes her head. "Popplio will be fine."

"Nice to meet you, Popplio!" says Lillie.

" **Yeah! Nice to meet you, Popplio!** "

"Oh!" she cries, and starts to argue with the pokemon about why she shouldn't be out. It's apparently just talking to herself as, her disobedient pokemon still floating for anyone to see, Lillie sighs, then looks to Bonnibel. "I think you chose a wonderful pokemon. Please take very good care of it."

Kukui jumps in for a more standard congratulations, focused on the fact Bonnibel is now officially a pokemon trainer. Then, for some reason, he's pressing a pokedex into her hands. "Most people here aren't too interested in this, yeah," he tells her. "But you're from Kanto, where it's practically tradition, yeah."

"Yeah," Bonnibel agrees. The metal is cold in her hands. Her mother will be excited.

"Here in Alola, we've got all sorts of great pokemon who learn all sorts of great moves. See what you can find!" Hala 'ahems' behind him. "Now, why don't you introduce your new friend to your mom, Bonnibel?"

She nods. "I'm sure she'll be happy to meet him."

But she before she can a boy runs up and asks, like someone fumbling his lines on a school stage, for a battle.

To her right, Lillie says, "Um... I don't really like to see pokemon battles where pokemon can get hurt...but I'll watch for you."

"You shouldn't mind," Bonnibel tells her. "Pokemon have fun battling. Isn't that right, Popplio? You're happy to fight for me. We couldn't be partners if you weren't."

Her popplio barks, " **I will! I'll do a great job, you'll be so proud!** "

The boy turns out to have a litten, presumably because he's the kahuna's grandson. It certainly isn't because he impressed anyone with his potential as a trainer. His litten hesitates at the sight of Bonnibel's popplio, turning to look over his shoulder anxiously at his trainer and getting hit square on with a burst of water. It's a good start for her as a trainer; her mother will be happy.

The boy gushes about how awesome her popplio was, and Hala tells her to show up at the festival tomorrow night, for another battle, before she officially starts off on her journey, and Kukui encourages her to get another pokemon or two before then. "Battles are more fun with lots of pokemon and lots of moves, yeah!"

Her mother is all smiles when she returns home. "The two of you look great together... I feel happier just looking at the pair of you!"

" **You okay?** " her mother's pokemon meows.

" **Huh?** " barks her popplio.

"Aw, and the pokemon are friends too," her mother says. "How adorable. Did you battle with it yet?"

Her mother's pokemon keeps meowing, " **You're all scratched up.** "

"I fought the kahuna's grandson after I got my pokemon, and after I won the kahuna asked me to stay until tomorrow. There's a big festival happening that night that ends with a pokemon battle and he wants us both to take part."

" **I'm fine! I could fight a million more pokemon, no problem at all!** "

"Oh, how exciting!" There's relief, so faint that perhaps she herself isn't aware of it, that she'll have another day with her daughter. "And winning your first battle, that's said to be very good luck. Was it hard?"

Her mother's pokemon murrs softly, " **Have you got a name?** "

" **Name?** " barks her popplio. " **I'm a popplio, silly! Are you a shiny meowth? Do they call you Shiny Meowth?** "

Bonnibel shakes her head. "And Kukui gave me a pokedex." She holds it out for her mother to take.

" **I'm ordinary looking where we used to live. But I meant your own name. Mine is Aurelia. Was there no one to give you it?** " she meows sadly.

" **A nickname? No, my trainer says I'm Popplio! It's because she's really happy I'm a popplio. I clapped my fins and she picked me!** "

"Oh, he mentioned that he was hoping you could help! Kukui's been trying to get a proper survey of the islands for some time now," she explains. "But there's restrictions on getting pokemon here to keep tourists from catching the islands bare, and the Alolan kids...well, Kukui says they just don't have enough drive. Most trainers here only raise a single pokemon, and even what they consider serious trainers often only have a couple. Kukui was considered quite weird for getting a team of six early on, the way everyone else does it. It's rather old fashioned, but don't you think it's cute of them, too?"

"Everything here has been nice," Bonnibel says, and her mother's smile is so wide it mirrors her own.

It's not as dark when Kukui shows up again, just sunset, and this time he's got his assistant in tow. She can't tell if he's excited or anxious, perhaps both. Whatever the reason, he's impatient to go.

"Just head on out without me," calls her mom from the upper floor. "I'll be there soon."

"Hurry it up, cousin! Pretend you're a pokemon and use your agility!" he shouts, taking off.

Bonnibel smiles politely and proceeds to walk along the path to the festival. The view is lovely and well worth a leisurely examination. The angle of the light's turned the ocean to burning gold. She thinks it'll be nice to travel around here, at least for a while.

Hala meets her as soon as she walks up the stairs, Kukui fidgeting next to him, and Bonnibel wonders if Kukui's urging to hurry was because he'd gotten her later than he should've. But everyone else is milling about normally, and Hala just starts talking to her about what the festival is: "...held to express our thanks to these great pokemon guardian deities for always remaining by our sides." He tells her to have fun, because the point is to show Tapu Koko how happy it's made them.

Hau trots up. "Ho! Hozit, Bonnibel, Lillie? I thought you'd never make it! Me and Litten've been waiting for ages!"

" **Yeah...** " his pokemon growls.

"Am I late, then?" she asks, eyeing the crowd, who continue to mill about without any sign of interest.

"Well, you missed seeing the dance, but not for the big finale. But we wanted to show you around!"

"Big finale?" At his side, Lillie turns to him, anxious.

"Hold on... Didn't anyone explain to you about tonight?!"

"We're battling our pokemon," Bonnibel chides. "That's what people do."

Lillie's bag twitches. " **I'd rather than being stuck in here...** "

Kukui laughs and claps Lillie on the shoulder. Bonnibel wonders when she'll take the hint. Kukui is particularly unsubtle. "A full-powered festival for pokemon battling! We battle in the name of Tapu Koko, pitting our best moves against one another in friendly competition to please our guardian."

"I don't like seeing pokemon fight one another, since they so often end up getting hurt..." Lillie says quietly. "But it seems like this is an important event, so I'll be sure to watch you both."

"It's only a friendly competition," Bonnibel repeats. "There's no point in worrying about anyone getting badly hurt."

"...I don't mean you'd hurt them badly," Lillie says, but her voice is barely audible amid the noise of the rest of the festival. If the others heard, they seem content to ignore it, so Bonnibel does the same.

"I'll leave you kids to have fun," Kukui says boisterously. A gaggle of preschoolers are shouting sing-song in the distance: "Then all the litten came running!" and Kukui ups his volume further. "Just remember not to wear your pokemon out early!"

There's a half breath worth of silence, so Hau starts talking again. "So guys've gotta have some mukuyaki! It's just good luck! Auntie Iolana made them this year again. You'll love it!" He grabs them both by the hand and starts to pull them along the dirt path.

"And dug the litten..." screech the preschoolers, their voices fading into incoherence.

Mukuyaki turns out to be a black, hard cookie shaped into a tube, with large pink sugar crystals embedded in it. Lillie contemplates the one in her hands as Bonnibel bites down on her own. Vanilla custard spills out into her mouth, mixing with the chocolatey taste of the cookie itself.

"It's a pyukumuku, isn't it?" Lillie says.

"Yeah, they're so cute, aren't they? They're sorta like all of Alola's mascot. People used to eat the real ones for luck on days like these, but the cookie versions taste a lot better. Plus, pyukumuku are just too adorable to want to eat."

Lillie tries to take a small bite but the brittle shell cracks from end to end. Custard wells up in the breaches.

"Oh no, eat it up quick!" shouts Hau, and Lillie, startled, crams it all into her mouth. Her cheeks puff out like a dedenne.

"Whew... Nothing spilled, so you're sure to have good luck now!"

Litten meows, " **You should've told them that first...** " Then the litten's ears flick and start to tilt back.

"...for the eyes of litten to come!" howl the preschoolers, starting toward them from the distance in a dead run.

Hau doesn't seem to have noticed yet. He eats his own in two gleeful bites, and Bonnibel swallows the rest of hers while watching Lillie struggle to chew without choking or spitting it out. Finally, she gulps the whole thing down and takes a relieved breath.

"Isn't it great you got here just in time for this festival?" Hau asks. "I was waiting to start after this one, because Tutu says it's best to start after getting Tapu Koko's favor, and now we'll both be starting our island challenge together now!" At his side, Lillie's eyes fall from waist height down to the ground by her feet. "And my gramp's been working to get a z-ring ready for you, which is really special! That's what-"

The children shriek next to him, running in a tight circle around the group. "A litten came into the kitchen!"

Litten hisses, " **Go away...** "

"And stole a crust of bread! Then cook took up a ladle! And beat him till he was dead!"

"Shoo!" shouts a nearby woman, while behind the cookie table, Iolana does a poor job of covering her smile with one hand. "Don't tease the poor thing! If Tapu Koko sees, it'll shoot you full of lightning!"

They laugh uproariously and race away again, shouting, "Then all the littens came running! And dug the litten a tomb! And wrote upon the tombstone! For the eyes of litten to come! A litten came into the kitchen! And stole..."

"Creepy..." Lillie says.

Hau laughs awkwardly. "It's, it's an old kid's song around here. I guess other places have more interesting stuff to do these days."

"I've heard it before," Bonnibel says. "It was about a shinx last time, though, not a litten."

"Oh, kids in Kanto sing it too? Cool! Oh, uh, anyway - right! The stone you found! The z-ring's made of that stone Tapu Koko gave you. I mean, yours will be. I don't know if everyone's is from our guardian. But Tapu Koko, he does like seeing cool moves, like Kukui says, and that's what it's great for! You can get different z-crystals, put them in your z-ring, and activate them in battle to use powered-up super z-moves!"

"Is that part of the festival battle?"

"Nah." He thinks for a second. "Uh, maybe it used to. If there were more kids, they'd probably say the two ones who did the best on the island challenge already would get to do it. But there's not enough kids to be picky. If you hadn't shown up we couldn't do the battle at all, since it'd be just me. Half the time my gramps does a sumo fight there instead. Oh! Kukui, back when he was our age, his battle used z-moves, I remember he told me! But that was ages ago, before I was even born..." There's another half breath of silence and then Hau's babbling again to fill it. "Did you catch any other pokemon yet, Bonnibel?" She shakes her head. "Tutu told me I had to get another so I spent all day looking, but... Kukui talks about how people in other places catch pokemon faster, but probably nobody anywhere'd be catching their second the very next day after getting their first. Maybe..."

"I don't mind. It's only a friendly battle, after all, and you should show off your new pokemon."

"Right!" The wide smile on his face could be mistaken for a mirror of her own, but there's too much relief in it. He skips forward. "The festival meal's roasting now, for after the battle. Which...I guess we should get over there! Sooner we finish the sooner we can sit down and eat."

He hesitates by the platform, blurts out, "So my new pokemon's a pichu, so uh, watch out for electric moves, yeah?"

Bonnibel considers and goes with, "I'll be sure to." Off to the side of the platform, the kahuna is still smiling benevolently and she suspects he missed that exchange. Did he tell Hau which pokemon to get as well? Well. It's not Bonnibel's problem how people want to disappoint themselves.

She walks to her place next to the wooden steps leading onto the platform. If she hadn't been told it was for battles, she'd never have guessed. The platform doesn't look unused, but what wear it has is minor scuffing. It's probably used at other times in the year, but whatever other battles take place here, they must be similar to what Hau's described.

The crowd gathers, her mother among them, her grin white and shining like the moon. Hala begins to speak. "For all life on our islands...and for those who undertake the island challenge with joy in their hearts...we pray for your protection... for them and all Melemele. May this pokemon battle be an offering to our island's guardian deity—Tapu Koko!"

The diplomatic way of describing Hau's expression would be 'anticipation'.

"Before you stands Hau—grandson to the kahuna. Before him stands Bonnibel—one who has met with Tapu Koko."

The crowd titters. "What a curious little thing Tapu Koko is..." says a man near Bonnibel. "Hah, that's just typical of it!"

Perhaps the kahuna hoped this would count in some way, making Hau's victory amount to a bit more, or his loss a little less.

It isn't Bonnibel's problem how people choose to be disappointed.

"Bonnibel! Hau! Bring forth the power of your Pokémon!"

Bonnibel wraps her hands around the pokeball. Four fingers and a thumb, the right length to hold it. For a moment, she imagines a cylinder against her palm instead, of fingers holding tightly. She has to imagine, because she's holding a pokeball, because she is here because she is holding a pokeball, because there is never a situation where she has five fingers and they wrap around a shaft of polished wood.

There are many where she holds a pokeball. And what is is what matters. It was never a choice she made. She throws. He throws.

"Popplio!" her mother cheers. "Take care of my little Bonnibel!"

"As long as we both have a good time, then I think we can call it a great battle, eh?" says Hau hopefully.

Bonnibel locks eyes with the pichu before her, her face still split in a wide grin. "Yeah. As long as the two of us have fun, that's all that matters!"

"Alright! Show off your charm, Pichu!"

It's important that Bonnibel's mother be pleased with all of this. That she be satisfied with how things go for Bonnibel. That she can look at Bonnibel now and see an unfolding chain of success and happiness before her, picture a life full of everything she wants for her child.

Bonnibel waits for the pichu to process the command, then, just as he's about to actually do it, she shouts, "Quick, Popplio, blast him in the face with your water gun now!" letting the sound of her voice startle her popplio and pull his attention away from from the pichu's attempt. The resulting attack is imperfect, but it works, which is more than the pichu or Hau can say.

There's a trick to these things. Times you want focus and times you want distraction, adjusting with how long it takes each pokemon to react to a command, knowing just when your voice should cut in and how much you should say.

Bonnibel's mother will say that of course Bonnibel is a talented trainer. She did so well in school, her mother says. She'll be a champion.

Hau's the worst combination of reckless and flinching, ordering attacks as fast as he can and then telling his pokemon to dodge instead, far too late to react properly. If Bonnibel cared about challenging battles, he'd be a terrible disappointment. For convincing her mother not to worry about her trainer career, he's very nearly perfect.

"What? It's already over?!" He's back to the school-play tone. Do they have those here, in this tiny place? A shame for Hau if they don't. It's the only thing she's seen from him that he's any good at.

The crowd begins to murmur approvingly as Bonnibel recalls her pokemon. They were pleased by it, or were pleased by how they assume their guardian would be pleased. And like before Hau begins gushing about how great it was, how great a trainer she is, how much fun he had.

Hala cuts in to say more loudly and definitively what the crowd has, about it being good, about it pleasing the guardian.

High above, Tapu Koko screams, " **It does!** "

Hala looks ever so slightly startled, but he recovers well. "Ho! You heard it yourself! Tapu Koko's song of approval."

It's now he makes a show of handing her some charm. She examines it while Hau takes one as well. It's an oddly shaped piece of metal decorated with an inlay of bunch of different colored triangles. A beaded leather cord is attached and Bonnibel wonders if there's meant to be anything special about which pokemon the skin comes from. "With this island amulet, your challenge officially begins!" She holds it up, all smiles. "Sounds great, right? I can't wait to have a real adventure together!" Hau says. "Come by tomorrow and I should have your z-ring ready as well. Although until you collect z-crystals during your island challenge, you will not be able to draw out the z-power of your pokemon," Hala booms, then adds a bit more quietly, "And yet you have already received that sparkling stone... It seems Tapu Koko took quite a liking to you...or perhaps it has a mission for you."

Bonnibel offers another modest shrug. "I wouldn't know. Maybe the pokemon just happened to drop it. But this island challenge... Is that very different from Kanto?" she asks, all earnest excitement. "Will I need badges for the crystals?"

"Not at all!" Hala says proudly. "We don't have gyms like Kanto or the other large regions. You'll be fighting totem pokemon - but the trial captain can explain that in good time."

"But it is still about battling," Kukui interjects, oblivious or ignoring the way Hala glances toward him. "The island challenge is about aiming to be the strongest trainer – the island challenge champion. Woo! And you'll be going to all four islands in the process, yeah. Getting to see the whole of Alola! And all its special rare pokemon, and all their moves. You seem like you're really bonded with Popplio already. I can't wait to see how you do with your next captures, yeah."

Her mother bends down and hugs her tight, then pulls back a bit. "Ooh, I was just captivated to see my own girl fighting in such perfect sync with her pokemon!" she gushes, starry-eyed. "This is a dream come true! Oh, Bonnibel... But oh, you should be with your new friends now! There's a big meal at the end, and all the kids get to eat first, you know, it's traditional."

Hau is already in the middle of the small pack. Lillie is still near the platform, looking at the group uncertainly. Bonnibel heads over.

Lillie smiles, a bit nervous. "Tapu Koko is amazing, isn't it? I hope I can meet it again some day and thank it for saving Nebby..."

"Oh yeah?"

"You know, Bonnibel... it did save your life, too. And it even gifted you that sparkling stone even though you're a stranger to this place."

"Sure. But some spearow aren't anything to be afraid of."

"But...o-oh, right." She throws a glance toward Bonnibel's mother, now chatting with the other adults. "You...have a very nice mother, don't you? She doesn't seem like she'd get mad about dirty clothes..."

"She'd worry over it," Bonnibel says, firm. "She'd be scared to death of anything happening to me. I almost died when I was little, you see. It's why she moved here. People never really forgot, and she wanted to start over."

"Oh. Oh, I'm sorry."

Bonnibel is a very well-adjusted child, her mother always says, so Bonnibel says, "It's okay. I don't really remember or anything."

"Guys, come on over! It's time to eat!" calls Hau, hopping up and down.

"What...what are we eating?!" Lillie's eyes are wide and shimmering and so absurdly honest about it all. She really needs to learn to take a hint.

Hau holds out the steaming meat in its leaf wrapping and says, "It's stoutland, of course!" with a shrug toward the carcass. "Don't you recognize it, Lillie? You know loads of pokemon!" He shoves it closer. Lillie barely recoils, which would be something if it wasn't because she's frozen to the spot rather than any willpower on her part. "It's delicious! It's a lot of trouble so you can't get it that often, but it's supposed to mean the stoutland will protect us for the rest of the year."

"N-no th-thanks, thank you," Lillie babbles, voice rising in pitch by the syllable. "I'm - But I-I-I'm just not- I don't - not hungry-" The final word is just a squeak.

"Oh...Are you sure? It's really good, and just one bite would-"

"Yes! Sorry! I just - I'm sorry! I can't!"

Bonnibel chows down on her own portion as she watches the scene unfold. The smell of it is so strong she can taste it in the steam before her mouth quite reaches it. The meat falls apart into strands on her tongue and grease coats her mouth. Warm wetness drips down her chin. Bits of fat squish under her teeth. There's no spices, just the richness of once vibrant muscle breaking down mixed with the salty-iron taste of cooked-in blood. Slick red juice begins to ooze its way through the gaps in the leaves and run down her fingers.

Lillie looks like she can't decide if she'll flee or faint. She wobbles.

"You okay?" Hau asks, glistening streaks down his arms. He takes a messy bite.

Lillie eeps and finally flees.

"I hope she feels better..." Hau says.

Bonnibel is a friendly, considerate child, her mother says. They're friends now, and Lillie is obviously distressed, and so, "I'll go see that she's okay," she tells Hau.

Lillie sits on the ground a little way from the main crowd, trying to take deep breaths and succeeding half the time. Bonnibel settles down next to her, continuing to munch. The girl isn't crying, and Bonnibel feels infinitesimally more positive toward her. Bonnibel doesn't cry - a sob's as bad as a laugh.

Well, the girl isn't crying yet, at any rate.

"It's a shame you're feeling sick, this is really good," she tells Lillie around a wet mouthful of flesh. "Maybe they'll let you take some home for later instead."

There's a little half hiccup, but she doesn't actually retch.

"What do you suppose they do with the leftovers? Or the bits they don't want at all? There's a story I heard about killing pokemon once, how did it go... Right!" She licks her fingers, then her palm. "'Pick clean the bones of pokemon, caught at land or stream, thank them for the meal as you chew each bone clean. Then set them free, for once you do, they return to flesh and it begins anew.'"

"That...that isn't how pokemon work," Lillie manages. "People drive pokemon to extinction all the time." It's funny the way she says _people_ , the way she says _pokemon_ , with the emphasis the wrong way around. She should be more grateful for what she has.

"Nah," Bonnibel agrees. "But it's a nice story, right? The pokemon always come back to get eaten again, so there's always more delicious things to eat. Well, it's really just about not wasting food. I think everybody agrees about that moral. If you care at all about pokemon, then the only thing to do is to not waste any of their meat, right? Eat the first one all up before you kill the next one."

"The only thing to do...people haven't got to do it to start!" Lillie hisses, like she's suddenly remembered she's got a spine.

"Is that your problem?" Bonnibel says, her voice exactly like she's only just realized. "That's _normal_. Of course people eat pokemon. Always have, always will." She imagines the feeling of tapered wood in her palm, of it under her chin. "If the pokemon really minded, they'd leave, right?" She hooks her fingers around her pokeball, starts to spin it idly. "Anything that happens, you know pokemon could always just leave. They don't, so that means they're okay with it. It'd be like wondering if pokemon don't like it when we battle them."

"I..." Lillie says, and then stops herself from anything further. She drops her eyes back to the ground.

"Well. I hope you feel better," Bonnibel says, standing up. "If you don't want to have any, I guess you don't have to, but this whole thing is obviously a really important tradition here, so you should be respectful."

"...yeah..." Lillie whispers.

It's late as the clock tells it when Bonnibel returns home, but her mother only woke an hour before sunset. Her mother's not a believer in forcing yourself out of jet lag, insisting it's healthier to shift gradually over a week or two. And she'd rather Bonnibel sticks to the darker hours of the day until they're completely sure the sunscreen can hold up under a tropical sun.

She hugs Bonnibel once again. "When I was pregnant," she begins, blinking her eyes fast against the well of tears, "I would sit and imagine your life. Your first steps, your first word, your first day of school, your first pokemon. I loved my pokemon journey so much. I saw new places and met new people and experienced new things. I had so much fun. I came back a different person. And I just...I just wanted...I wanted my daughter to go out and see the world like I did. For you to do, to have that."

"I will," Bonnibel tells her. "I'm sure I'm going to do great, Mom. I'll collect crystals and pokemon and make lots of new friends, and I'll become a champion."

She sniffs, but she's smiling too. "Then I suppose this is good-bye..."

" **Are you going away forever?** " meows her mother's meowth curiously. She comes closer and Bonnibel scritches the top of her head. " **Are you done being with us and Bonnibel? Are you going to be somebody else's kid now? I'll miss you!** "

"Aw, Meowth's wishing you good luck too!" her mother says.


	2. became very close to humans

Bonnibel's first capture is easy.

It's dark, near midnight, but there's half a moon and clear air. Color and detail are impossible, but she can make out a silhouette with ease.

Round head, long beak - a pikipek. They were confirmed extinct in the last mainland region a hundred years ago, and hanging out on branches instead of tucked away in a hole is one of the reasons why. There's limited real estate for them, of course, since a tree has to be pretty big to fit a pikipek inside, and it has to be dead for the wood to be soft enough to make the hole easily, and then, well, being jammed into a tight space with only one way in or out can end badly, and pikipek across the regions had felt that was what they should worry about.

Now all of those are gone and the ones here still hadn't learned the lesson that wings don't save you.

Bonnibel opens her pokeball and crouches down. "Shhh," she says first. "No barking." She leans close to get their eyes to the same angle, points, and tells him to look for the pikipek. It takes a few minutes - it is hard to do without practice, and what matters is Popplio gets it in the end. There's no rush.

"Instead of a ball, make a jet of water. Aim for the center and keep up the pressure until you see the pikipek fall," Bonnibel says. It's likely Popplio's standard blast of water will knock the pokemon off, but no reason to make room for possible failure.

The pokemon falls hard, Bonnibel throws her first pokeball, and it's done.

The pokedex chimes with an upbeat, you-did-it! kind of tone, and entirely too loud. When it's brighter she'll have to see if she can turn it off.

Pikipek are common on the islands, and it's certain Kukui already has this information. She's not quite sure what he's looking for but it doesn't matter. Bonnibel is good about following directions, her mother says, and following directions is all Kukui can expect from her. He didn't ask her for the specific things he wanted, which is perhaps connected to how Hala seemed less enthusiastic about a trainer catching them all. If Hala's the one in charge here who all the kids listen to, and none of the native Alolans have ever wanted to help Kukui get a pokedex survey done...some disagreement between the two. Well. If he tells her to do something else later, she'll start doing that instead. It doesn't matter.

" **Our first new friend!** " Popplio barks, and she shushes him. She'd like to get a good bunch tonight. "But you'll wake them all up if you're noisy."

Popplio claps his fins over his mouth and nods vigorously.

Bonnibel leans over the fence by the right of the path, considering the cliff and the beach below. But no. She doesn't know if the pokedex is transmitting survey data live or not, and she doesn't want to explain how she got down there if it is. If Kukui tells her mother she fell off a cliff, it'd be a disaster.

She goes off the path to the left instead, deeper into the trees.

She hears the munching first, and looks around to see a caterpie chewing his way through the leaves. It's not as if he could escape a trainer if he tried to run, and Bonnibel is pleased he makes no such attempt. The slight motion helps Popplio pick out his target a little faster this time. He hits the caterpie, the caterpie smacks into the rocky ground, and Bonnibel captures her second pokemon.

There are supposed to be ledyba here, so Bonnibel keeps an eye out for older, larger trees. When she sees a likely candidate, she heads over to the trunk and looks up. It's darkest there, but after a minute she can make out the difference in rustling between the mass of leaves and the mass of pokemon.

Bonnibel traces the outline with broad movements of her hand and says, "Aim for something on the edge."

This time, Popplio misses, hitting only leaves. He adjusts fast, overcompensating and hitting further into the center of the mass. It works, through, knocking one loose. The ledyba smacks into a branch, bounces off, and buzzes half awake just in time to avoid striking the ground as well. Before the pokemon can do more than wobble dizzily in the air, Bonnibel throws the pokeball.

The rest of the swarm buzzes unhappily, but it's dark and they might as well be blind, so they stay right where they are. If Bonnibel felt like it, she could spend an hour catching them all, the swarm tumbling over each other to try to keep someone else between them and her pokemon's attacks until there's no one left at all. But Kukui didn't ask her to.

There isn't much further she can get without trying to climb a bluff, so she heads back to the path.

Popplio's the one who finds the yungoos, when they're very nearly back to the cliffside. He's close to the ground and rams his nose into a suspicious clump of grass, then starts to bark, " **Hey-** " before remembering he's supposed to be quiet and cutting off. The yungoos is breathing but she seems to be in a stupor, like she's gone into hibernation despite the fact they're in the tropics. Sick or dying? Bonnibel figures it still counts.

The road to Iki Town had a branch to somewhere else, but when she tries to follow it to that somewhere, she doesn't get far before finding a barrier. It's almost as tall as Bonnibel, and when she digs the flashlight out of her pack and flicks it on, she finds it's decorated in bright triangles, similar to the island challenge amulet.

It wouldn't even take a second to climb over. But the sign lit up by the beam says something about presenting a crystal to pass, and dangerous wild pokemon on the other side, and strictly prohibited. She turns the flashlight off again. There's plenty of other places to go, for now. She turns back, heads down instead. That's the direction the city's in anyway, and the pokecenter.

The rattata is trying to avoid her but not hard enough. The smart thing would've been to hold perfectly still and just wait however long it takes a trainer to leave again, but instead, she tries to continue wherever she's going, just much more slowly and quietly. Quiet she manages, but the grass she's in moves differently than that just ruffled by the wind. Idiot.

Bonnibel points. "Soak that area."

The rattata tumbles out, the shape of it a bit different than Bonnibel expected. The pokemon recovers quickly, rearing up and squeaking. " **Don't you dare fight me! I'll bite you bloody!** "

Popplio is indeed bloody by the end, with one bite going straight through his left flipper and another tearing through the lip just below his nose, leaving him whimpering. But the rattata's smacked about by blasts of water and keeps flinching when Popplio cries out, pitiful and endearing. The rattata gets to her feet once again but she's trembling from ear to toe. When Bonnibel throws the pokeball, it doesn't rock even once before sealing for good.

So five. That's good enough for a while. Longer maybe, if the pokedex turns out to not have any timestamps.

"Well, Popplio," Bonnibel says loudly. "I think that's good for now. You worked hard."

Popplio hesitates, thinking, then evidently decides that yes, if she's talking it must be okay to make noise again. He barks, " **I did! Is that going to be your team? Have we filled it already? Are you a very serious trainer?**

"We're close to a pokecenter," Bonnibel says. She can still see well enough, but there's the bloom of light pollution up ahead she's careful not to look at directly and the noise is already creeping into her ears. "And those are usually open at all hours. I don't know if it'll be true across Alola, but I'd wager a city pokecenter in a tourist hub will follow convention."

Popplio starts barking enthusiastically, " **You're so smart-** " and she recalls him. She's done catching pokemon and he's too injured for more battles anyway.

The clerk at the indeed open pokemon center feels the need to remark on how late it is when she heads up to the counter.

Bonnibel makes a show of checking the clock. "Isn't it early?" she says. "It's the start of a new day."

He chuckles. "I hadn't thought of that! Well, if you want a room for the night, or the morning -"

"Maybe later," she says. "For the day." She points at her smiling face and adds, "My mother thinks I shouldn't be out near noontime until we're sure the sunscreen holds up." Bonnibel always listens, her mom says.

She turns, walking slow at first, so he'll look away, then trots past the chairs and couches and through the doors. They shut before he gets out the first word out about safety. It's funny, how things change in getting a pokemon. There's so many more places a person can go if they have a pokemon, but try to set them down for a couple minutes and suddenly even walking down a street becomes too dangerous. Do kids ever get used to having the protection of a pokemon, end up taking it so for granted they forget where the protection comes from and wander off without one in their pockets?

She would like to see that.

But nobody successfully told her to stick around and nobody else can tell the difference now to send her back. She tilts her head back, squints for sky between the lights. It's noisy - tourists - which means a lot of things likely run all night. She considers. Where would Bonnibel want to go?

Tourism bureau seems a safe start. She already knows a good deal about Alola given how long her mother was planning on coming here, but seeing things in person can show new sides to things. In this case, that side is pyukumuku. The half of the building not spent on pamphlets overflows with black and pink. She idly squishes a pillow-sized toy pyukumuku while considering a wall of commemorative plates and oddly shaped mugs. None of it seems to be selling.

Her mother has made quite a point of adopting even the less tourist-friendly Alolan customs. She's also made a habit of putting less loved decorative plates on shelves her meowth can get into, so if she doesn't like it, she won't be saddled with it for long. And at the moment, a dutiful child would be still thinking of her mother. Separation is best eased into.

"Adorable, aren't they?" says the teen at the counter. "If you're really lucky, you might even find someone to trade you a real one while you're here - oh! That amulet…"

"My mother just moved here," she says.

"Right, right, you must be Bonnibel then! I heard you'd be battling at the festival. Wish I could've been there too, but I couldn't get time off work." She sighs. "Back in the day things would just have closed down...but that was then. Well. You're sure out late."

"It's just so exciting to be a real trainer at last," she says. "And, well, I still haven't finished adjusting to the time difference."

"Well, just be careful, cousin. The tourist areas are pretty safe at night, but beyond...well, there can be some troublemakers running around. They're usually just nuisances but they can be real bullies, and with you just starting out… Well, the police stick to places like this, you know? So it's best you do too." Then she winks. "Here, since you're not a tourist, I'll use my discount for you. From one Alolan to another, right?"

"Thanks so much!" Bonnibel says, taking the bag. "And I'll be sure not to go too far at night, so don't worry."

Her pokemon may be healed by now, but if they're not she'll be stuck waiting. Bonnibel wanders into a mall instead. The air is mostly chill and tart from the air conditioning, but there's the faint smell of various foods. She passes over the probably overpriced apparel shop, a hair salon she'll never enter, and then finds the buffet.

"Hope your eyes aren't bigger than your stomach," teases one of the other patrons at the sight of Bonnibel's plate. "Looks like you got one of everything there!"

"I sure tried!" she tells them with a smile, heading for an empty table. The restaurant seems like it aims to represent every region's cuisine but Alola, but aiming and hitting are different things. The seaweed on the whirlpool sushi is wrapped like an icecream cone, and there must be meat from a half dozen different pokemon inside. The Hoenn ramen has the expected cloudy broth but it has none of the usual additions, just fragments of vegetable and meat from the broth itself, and she's pretty sure the bits are tauros and not the traditional spoink. The pizza crust is sweet and chewy, probably from taro, and it has a richness to the sauce suggesting pidgey stock was used. The tamato pasta sauce is also filled with more shreds of slow-cooked meat that she can't quite place amid the spice. And while the omelet's clearly been fried and rolled the way Johto and Kanto do it, she can barely taste a hint of sweetness to it and instead the natural flavor of chansey eggs is at the forefront.

All in all, it's far more interesting to work her way through the differences than exact recreations would've been. She'll come back during the dinner hours and see what else they offer.

Back to the pokecenter. She nods through the scolding about how she should always have a pokemon on her. "Really," the man says, "it's not safe to let all your pokemon get worn out either! What if something had happened?"

"You're right. I'll be more careful," Bonnibel promises, all wide eyed sincerity, and heads back out.

It's just before dawn. Every meal, Bonnibel thinks, tastes a little bit different, however precisely the recipe is followed, and every dawn is just a little different too. And in the broad strokes, both are always just the same, day after day and bite after bite. She cares more about flavors than hues, so she looks away from the horizon again down to the streets.

By a food stall, a tsareena is holding a basket of skewers of some sweet-smelling red vegetable, or perhaps fruit. Bonnibel approaches and gets a stick of what the tsareena's owner explains to be soaked and grilled bounsweet chunks. Even with most of the sap removed through the long soaking process, when Bonnibel sinks her teeth into the still-crisp flesh, it's so overwhelmingly sweet as to wrap around to a sort of numbness. "Whoa…" she says, slurring a little as she loses track of precisely where in her mouth her tongue is.

"And yet, there's not a ounce of sugar in it," the vendor says. "It's actually good for you! Bounsweet are such amazing pokemon."

A pair of tourists pass by, one muttering to the other, "Kind of creepy, isn't it, making a tsareena hand those out…"

" **They're nobody I know,** " the tsareena murmurs primly.

Time to get to get a look at her pokemon, Bonnibel figures. She makes her way through the city as the sky lightens, then, still nibbling her way through her skewer, heads north. There's smaller houses here on the outskirts, probably where the staff of all those places work, and beyond that is grass and trees.

She releases Popplio from his pokeball, then starts throwing out the rest. The caterpie appears first, looking no different from usual.

Popplio barks, " **Hi!** "

The caterpie stares up at her curiously, then looks at Popplio. " **Um. Hi.** "

The yungoos, which Bonnibel sees now has a strip of extra-light fur running down her back rather than the solid color pictures of them in the far south regions had, stirs a little when released but appears to still be out of it. She must be fine if the pokecenter returned her to Bonnibel, though.

The pikipek flutters a little anxiously but then settles down and just peeps a bit, " **Got me, huh…** " The colors of her feathers are far drabber from what the mainland pikipek had. Well, they're just normal pikipek colors now.

" **My trainer has good eyes!** " Popplio barks.

The ledyba looks about and cowers, drawing his legs in tight and quivering. Seems they're the same here inside as well as out. " **No no no no no no no no no…** "

The caterpie coos, " **Don't panic yet. Most trainers won't keep using a bad fighter. It might even let you go again.** "

And last, the blacker and fatter than usual rattata, who glowers at her then jumps half a foot in the air at the sight of the yungoos. She begins squeaking wildly, " **You! Ha! Things have turned! Haha! I'll eat you now!** " She lunges for the yungoos and Bonnibel grabs her by the tail as Popplio jumps in front of her. " **Aw, you don't need that loser, lady! Lookit her all dead to the world just cuz the sun hasn't risen enough! Why not just let me take a quick bite and -** "

The yungoos' eyes open and she's up and running, scrambling over Popplio to jump off his head at the dangling rattata. Bonnibel grabs her around the midsection with her other hand. Startled, the yungoos twists and sinks her teeth into Bonnibel's arm.

Bonnibel waits, staring at her. The yungoos stares back in growing confusion and fear. When the yungoos releases her grip and works her teeth out again, Bonnibel says, firmly, "Pokemon don't attack people. Understand?"

" **Y-yes.** " The yungoos nods vigorously. " **Sorry. Sorry, Master.** " Bonnibel's fingers could tighten to crush the air from her chest, Bonnibel's arm could smash her against the ground. Bonnibel's hand could put her back in the pokeball. There's times and places pokemon are killed for a warning snap at the air.

Bonnibel sets the pokemon down. The fur on the yungoos' side twitches where the blood that ran down Bonnibel's arm has soaked in, but the yungoos makes no move to groom yet. The rattata seems to have forgotten herself as well, also staring at the blood still dripping from Bonnibel's fingers.

Popplio suddenly starts barking madly all at once, " **You're hurt oh oh you're hurt it must hurt so much I'm sorry I'm sorry!"**

"Shush," Bonnibel says. "There's no need to be so noisy." She examines the wound. The yungoos bit right through, and with teeth wide enough that the depth of the injury is obvious, so she can't just pass it off as a scrape. Shame it wasn't the rattata. Their teeth go in so nice and clean.

She recalls the new pokemon again, leaving out Popplio in case some wild pokemon shows up. Then it's time to dig out the first aid kit from her bag. The gauze works for rubbing off most of the blood and getting the wound dry for a minute. She squirts a line of superglue into the seam on either side. The inside of her arm begins to feel warm, then hot. She waits for the temperature to subside then fills in the top with some liquid bandage goo. There. She sticks a large bandaid on top of the outer side of the wound, just enough off-center to look like she wasn't too concerned, to complete the picture and examines the result. Yeah, that could be a cut from a tree branch, she decides, so long as she keeps her arm down so the other side isn't visible. A fall would raise questions about her safety wandering around in the dark, but she got this chasing the pikipek, because Bonnibel was so excited to get a chance to catch an otherwise extinct pokemon. The bandaid doesn't really cover it properly, but that just shows it can't be all that bad if she doesn't need anything more.

The she slathers on another coat of sunscreen to replace what just got scraped off.

She packs things back up, frowning at the liquid bandage bottle. They presumably sell the stuff here as well, but she needs it to blend in to be any use, and it's likely none of their skin tones will actually match her skin. Even the tourists come here looking to get tans, after all. She'll have to get some makeup. It sounds like people around here know about her, so there's a good chance gossip will get back to her mother. Certainly while she's on Melemele, and maybe even further out.

Bonnibel sighs. "That's life."

Well, back to the pokemon issue. Yungoos are dead to the world when it's dark? The yungoos seems like the strongest thing she's caught so far, but she's not sure it's worth it to train a pokemon who can't battle half the time. And why is that? Down south yungoos run around for days without sleep so long as it's warm enough.

She sits down under a tree and opens the pokedex. Looking it over now she can see Kukui set it, or maybe he just left it on factory default settings, to only give data about pokemon she's encountered, which is meant to encourage kids to seek out more and more. It's not really worth the aggravation of figuring out a good explanation for how and why she changed it when she doesn't need anything more.

Yungoos. Brought over here a hundred and fifty years back. The theory their activity is tied to temperature was debunked two hundred years ago; it turned out to be sunlight based, but as calibration for their internal clocks rather than light simply waking them up. Apparently the Alolan government officials hadn't kept up on research when they ordered them.

Well, that's kind of interesting. And good to know before she started any conversations about yungoos. Bonnibel reads all sorts of things, her mother says, but there's only so many times she can blame misinformation on reading an outdated library book before people start to wonder why such a voracious reader ran across so little recent writing.

She checks to see if there's anything else she needs to know about the others she has, but the only thing that stands out is the rattata here have become more social, which is weird given pokemon behavior changes usually go in the opposite direction, but not likely to matter.

Next, the pokedex's general workings. Now that it's light enough to see the buttons, Bonnibel turns it over in her hands until she finds the pinprick depression on the side. She pokes a safety pin in and watches the screen flash once. The pokedex still turns back on normally, so she repeats the process while holding down the up and down buttons, and this time the screen switches from the cheery graphical interface to a list of obtuse text options titled SETUP. That was easier than she expected.

Bonnibel begins working her way through the menu and submenus. Most of what she finds seems to be locked or disabled, but as the things she can change include setting up a password to ensure only she can modify this device, it seems like she has full access. She tries holding down buttons in different sequences but no other screen appears. The pokedex is oddly clunky, the diagnostics spits errors and complaints about how it can't identify the battery, and the sound submenu is mostly greyed out, so maybe it's just old and half broken.

All she really wanted to know was what it was sending back to Kukui, and the answer appears to be nothing. There wouldn't be much to send, either, since the GPS is one of the many things that isn't working and Kukui either didn't or couldn't install the map. That's pretty nice.

She starts north again. Popplio bounces gamely along at her side, but it's clear he's not much for land travel. She picks him up and sets him on her bag instead. He honks, " **Yay rides! I love you too!** " and rubs against her side.

She hasn't gone that far before she hears a delibird squawking, " **Anyone? Anyone help?!** " He sees her and rushes over. " **Trainer! Help my trainer, please!**

Popplio barks, " **Oh no!** "

"Aww, aren't you upset," Bonnibel says. "What's the matter? Have you gotten lost?"

" **No!** " he squawks again. He shakes his head back and forth. " **Please come with me!** "

"Oh, is it something else?"

Popplio barks more, " **She can't understand us! Maybe if you pull?** "

"Maybe you want me to leave? Am I trespassing?" She takes a big step backward.

The delibird keeps squawking, " **Argh!** " and grabs the side of her bag, tugging.

"Hey now, you shouldn't grab people's bags."

More squawking, " **Argh!** "

Popplio drops down, still barking, " **Just go with him!** " and butts his head against Bonnibel's leg. The delibird does the same, pushing against her other leg in the direction he came from.

"Oh!" Bonnibel says, exactly like it's only just occurred to her. "Do you want me to go somewhere?"

The delibird squawks more loudly, " **Yes!** " and Popplio honks, " **Yes!** " and they both push.

She goes along with it and finds there's a pair of kids dressed in dirty black outfits that poorly fit them standing in front of a disdainful man. The kids each have beanie-like shapeless white hats on top for some reason...certainly doesn't do anything to keep the sun out of their face. Fashion?

The kids wave their arms wildly, like a nervous pidgey fluffing to take up more space. One shouts, "You got a lame bunch of berries... Now Team Skull's your adversaries! Taking berries off your hands is just the start of our plans, yo!"

"I'll share my berries for free with any pokemon, but you'll not have a single one from me!" the man snaps.

"So, what? I'm lower than a pokemon?!"

Bonnibel cuts in: "Yeah, sounds like it."

They turn, and the one who spoke walks over with exaggerated steps. He tries to loom at her, but the effect's quite ruined by how for all his arms' apparently out of control motion, he's careful to never actually touch her. Like a pokemon snapping at air. "And what are you looking at, huh?! Huh? Huh? HUH?"

"You got a bone to pick with us, homie?" asks the other kid, still standing by the man.

"I appreciate your concern, child," the man says. "But these Team Skull punks do nothing but talk big and act small. You carry on with your island challenge. Don't give these washouts a moment's notice."

"Yo, we're standing right here! At least act a little bit afraid or something, y'know?!"

"Oh! Is there something around we should be afraid of?" Bonnibel asks, turning her back on them to look behind her.

"For real?!" shouts the kid. "Yo, you think you can say that to us?"

"Let's get figy with it! We're gonna hafta take your pokemon before we nanab some berries!" agrees the other kid.

Bonnibel considers and replies, "Rather _drash_ , perhaps you should _chilan_? Thinking you can beat me is rather _eggant_ , _yago_?" The man snickers, while the two kids stare at her. Well, they may not appreciate her puns, but that opens up a more fun avenue anyway, if a risky one: "So, were you guys just too lazy to pay attention in school or is this a learning disability kind of thing? Wouldn't want any _bitter_ ness between us over you guys getting _burnt_!"

The man laughs while the kids' faces are flushed and angry. Bonnibel grins. Seems she judged her audience well.

"Yo, check out how hardheaded Team Skull grunts can be!" snarls the kid.

Popplio jumps out in front of her and the kid seems to suddenly notice him. "Yo, hold up, you're-"

"What?" says the other kid. His companion gestures at Bonnibel and Popplio, raising his eyebrows. "That don't mean nothing!" he snaps, heading over as well to wave his hands almost but not quite in Bonnibel's face. "You think you're so smart, kid? You think you're tough? Go, Drowzee!"

It's a far quicker battle than Bonnibel expected. His drowzee goes down and she looks at him expecting more pokemon he doesn't have. Her mother mentioned Alolan trainers were like that, she remembers, and apparently even kids like this still stick to tradition.

The kid stomps the ground. "You best stop trying to act hard, kid!" He turns to his friend. "Yo, I'm so annoyed right now, homie! Let's go mess with Ilima again!"

"Aww yeah, let's do it! Verdant Cavern is pretty close by anyway. And you! You better listen to what my boy says and drill it into that thick skull of yours! For real! You'd better not forget, numskull!"

They run off. The man laughs again and says, "Ho! You and that popplio there did quite the number on him!" He invites her into his house and gives her a bag of berries. "It's the least I can do to thank you for teaching those numskulls a lesson."

Then she tries to keep going north, only to find another fence.

Bonnibel's skin twitches. She'd hop this one, but now that it's day someone could see.

She was planning to stay in Alola a bit after she formally finished, but this… If this is how the islands are she's not going to stick around. Bonnibel will be so excited by her successes and so in love with pokemon training she'll rush right off to a new region.

Grudgingly, she turns her back. Which region? One not so far her mother would worry, of course, so not Kalos, and Johto's entirely too close, and...well, of course all that business in Unova was just an oddly convoluted attempt at theft, but what they said...it's unpleasant to think about, so no, not there. Hoenn. She'll go to Hoenn when she's done here.

She starts toward Hau'oli again. The sun's getting higher in the sky. She'll try another restaurant for breakfast, then take a room at a pokecenter to wait out the noon, head to Hala's for the ring later and…is that Lillie? That's Lillie.

"Bonnibel!" Lillie calls, sounding relieved. "Popplio!" She starts waving madly, like she's worried Bonnibel won't be able to see her at this distance, then runs toward Bonnibel, which seems like a terrible idea unless she got a new, competent pokemon sometime between midnight and ten AM. Nonplussed, Bonnibel stands there.

Popplio barks back at her, " **Hi Lillie hi! Nebby, are you there? Hi too!** "

Lillie stinks of marigold, mint, pepper, and grapefruit when she arrives, which explains how she could get this far from a city without another pokemon. Popplio sneezes.

She's puffing from the run and also looks rather frazzled. "I was supposed to get you before you left but your mom said you already left last night so I thought maybe you'd gone to Kahuna Hala's but Hau said he hadn't seen you so I went to the beach by the city but you weren't there and I thought you wouldn't be in the city because you're a pokemon trainer now so you were probably training around Iki Town so I tried to leave again but there are so many places and I got lost and ended up at the docks and I had to run away from these guys and then I found the path out and - " She stops, panting, then blinks and takes in Bonnibel's appearance. "Oh! Oh no, what happened to your arm? Does it hurt?"

"It hurt at first, but it's fine now," Bonnibel decides. "Don't worry about it, I was just very clumsy. I'll remember to be more careful now. Why did you need to find me?"

" **You weren't clumsy. You were so brave, stopping her from eating the rattata!** "

"Oh. Um... The professor woke me up and said… 'Hey there, Lillie! Bring me that great new trainer. Woo!' So I'm here to show you the way to his pokemon lab, if you'll come with me. It's, um…" She looks around anxiously. "It's...to the left?"

"We're on Route Three right now," Bonnibel says. She's seen a map.

"Oh. So...that's…the lab is at the bottom of Route One...so we'd have to go...um..."

"Back down to Hau'oli City, then to Route One on the other side of it."

"Oh…" She slumps. "I...I don't really know the way through the city. I always get lost and take forever."

"Don't worry about it," Bonnibel says. "I'm sure I can find my way through."

She starts walking and Lillie follows. "Um… So have you seen a lot of wild pokemon? Or, um, caught any?"

"A couple," she says. "What's your favorite pokemon around here?"

Lillie's bag makes a spitting cough, " **Me!** "

"Um, I don't really, um, I think any pokemon can be great. I don't really have a favorite, a favorite species."

"Not even whatever's in your bag?"

"No!"

Bonnibel stops and regards Lillie, who's balled her hands into fists. Bonnibel hadn't even been trying that time.

"I didn't - that isn't - it doesn't matter to me if Nebby is rare, or cute, or anything! It's my friend no matter what! I wouldn't do anything differently!"

Right, so she's touchy about it, and unlike the stoutland last night, it's something it's okay for people to say they believe. Bonnibel decides on, "That's really nice of you," because it would have been if that were true, which leads to, "You really care about pokemon, don't you?"

"Yes." No.

Bonnibel weighs the pros and cons of spending the rest of the walk in silence. But no, Lillie is Bonnibel's friend. Bonnibel is making new friends already because her mother's decision to move here was a good one. "I feel like that about my mother's meowth," she says. "My mother caught her back as a trainer. She never did all that well in battles and my mother stopped using her, but when my mother quit, she was the one who was kept while all the others went off to keep battling under other trainers. She's known me all my life." The words feel odd on Bonnibel's tongue and she keeps going to see where they'll take her. "I'll miss her."

"I-I'm sure it'll only be for a little while," Lillie says. "Alola isn't so big as other places and you seem like you know what you're doing. It won't take you too long to complete the island challenge."

Popplio barks, " **And you have me!** " and butts up against her leg.

She pets his head. "Yeah, I'm sure I will." She wonders suddenly if she should've picked the litten. He was more reserved, quieter. And this all is better when it's quieter. But he was only reticent because he was fragile. Her gummy popplio is a better choice than a crisp-shell cookie cat that shatters in her hands, and she's not quite so selfish as to try not to break what she touches.

A distraction nobly slouches into view. His shape's familiar, and the colors are not exactly unique. Guess Alola has a lot of construction, because there haven't been ones like that in most places for a while...Bonnibel's seen them in some history book, an artist's recreation because colored photos weren't around yet. And of course the stench of Lillie's repel wouldn't be noticed by a grimer.

"Nearly to Hau'oli, it looks like," Bonnibel says. "Popplio, water gun! Aim for the bottom left side!"

As she expected, the lower section is less well held together, and the jet of water removes a good chunk.

The grimer bellows, " **Aaaah!** " and spits a white crystal that shatters right under Popplio. Bonnibel makes an educated guess and holds her breath. Popplio reels back, trying to cover his nose and mouth as a thin vapor rises up. It feels astringent against Bonnibel's eyes - but then there's a gust of wind and it's gone. She uses the breath to say, "Water gun again!"

Popplio's aim is wild and it just flattens the head a bit. The grimer retaliates by spitting a wad of black sludge into Popplio's eyes. To his credit, her pokemon doesn't panic at all. He blows out a bigger bubble of water and crams his head into it, shaking back and forth to clear the goop.

It's a good idea, but while he's doing so, the grimer glides forward, bellowing once again, " **Stop hurting me! Go away and leave me alone!** " and then biting down on his tail. That does startle Popplio. He lets out in a bubbly scream, and then the water ball collapses into the ground for him to take a breath.

"Smack your tail up and down like you're swimming," Bonnibel says, and watches the grimer deform for a second before the tail tears loose, sending gunk splattering everywhere and crystals plinking to the ground. Some bits nearly hit her. She decides to switch from orders to pokeballs and flings one.

It rocks back and forth for a bit, then opens. The grimer barely has a chance to form before she smacks him with a second one, and the third one closes for good. The pokedex is silent so she must've been successful in muting sound effects.

Popplio's panting on the ground, a flush to his skin and greenish swelling around the wounds on his tail. There's tears dribbling from his eyes where an irritating black smudge remains. Bonnibel pops a general antitoxin pill into his open mouth and orders, "Swallow," then wipes his eyes clean with a cloth.

" **What happened!?** " Nebby screeches. Bonnibel looks up to see Lillie is rooting around in her bag and Nebby is floating next to her.

" **I won. I won and got my trainer a new pokemon! She won't regret picking me!** "

Lillie extracts a potion from her bag and kneels next to Popplio. It's so incongruous that it's not until Lillie breaks the seal and sprays it onto the bite marks that Bonnibel can understand what's happening.

"Those are expensive," Bonnibel says. "You don't need to do that."

"I never spent my allowance before," Lillie replies. "And...I know you're a trainer...and you didn't have any choice about fighting that grimer...but seeing a pokemon in pain makes my own heart seem to ache."

Popplio waves his tail up and down and barks, " **Don't be sad! I feel fine now! Thank you!** " He spits out another bubble of water and balances it on his nose, then jumps up so he's standing on his damaged tail. " **I'm happy, see?** "

Lillie laughs, sounding relieved. Nebby huffs, " **You sure?** "

" **Really! I feel great!** "

"I can help out your grimer, too," Lillie says earnestly. "I have plenty more."

" **It's only...sometimes you'll feel bad later…** "

"That's very nice of you to offer," Bonnibel says, "but newly caught pokemon can be unruly, and grimer can make you sick easily. It's safer if I just drop him off at the pokemon center. There's one right by the entrance to the city, so it won't be far."

"Are you sure? I thought...I was pretty sure it was on the side near the professor's lab…"

"There's two pokecenters in Hau'oli," Bonnibel says. "The other one's next to Route One."

" _Oh_."

Bonnibel recalls Popplio. The opiates won't last forever, and from his antics, he has no experience with them. If he injures himself further in the meantime, he could be useless to her for days.

"Oh, Nebby, you've got to go back in the bag…"

Nebby swooshes back and forth in the air, peeping, " **Nobody's around!** "

"Come on, we've got to go to the city and get that grimer some help, and we can't do that if you're out."

" **Oooohhkaaaaayyy.** " The pokemon finally shoves herself back inside.

"Thank you," Lillie says. "You can come back out as soon as we get to the professor's lab, okay?"

The bag quivers. " **When ya get there next week.** "

Time is a consideration. And Bonnibel is also a considerate child, her mother says, who wouldn't want her new pokemon friend to suffer longer than he had to. "Look, that's the pokecenter up ahead!" she says, pointing at the very distant red roof. "Let's go!"

She doesn't run too fast. She's not sure how athletic Lillie is, and the girl's obviously worn out already. Luckily, Lillie doesn't seem too observant either, so it's pretty easy to always be just a step ahead, slowing down as Lillie does, while still pretending she doesn't see how much Lillie's struggling beside her.

"Here we are!" Bonnibel says with delight. Lillie says nothing but gasps. "Oh, are you okay?" Lillie nods desperately. "Great, let's go in." She grabs Lillie's hand and yanks her through the doors.

Lillie freezes up, wrapping her other arm around her bag and clutching it to her chest. Huh. Bonnibel lets go and heads up to the center counter and offers up two pokeballs. "My grimer and popplio are a bit beat up," she says. "Can you help them?"

"Of course," the woman says. "Aren't you out bright and early! Do any of your other pokemon need a rest?"

"Oh no, they haven't been out at all. I've got to go somewhere, but I'll be back soon for Popplio. He's my starter pokemon!" It doesn't matter that everyone already knows. Bonnibel is just so proud to be part of this she has to share, so worthy of the gift they gave her, so good and trustworthy and lovable. "But I'd like to deposit the grimer. I already have a full team to train."

"Well, I promise we'll take good care of them."

Lillie is still rooted to the floor, trembling. Now seems like a good time to try out the cafe then. "Hey Lillie, want a drink? They have cocoa!"

Lillie makes an inarticulate squeak.

"Right. Two cocoas, please!"

"Tapu cocoas for the girl who met Tapu Koko!" the man says, sounding delighted. He cautions her they're hot as she wraps her hands around them. They are. The paper of the cups does almost nothing to muffle the heat radiating from them.

"Come on, Lillie, let's get going."

"R-right!" Lillie sprints through the doors, letting out a relieved sigh as they close.

"Are you scared of pokemon centers or something?" Bonnibel asks. "I'd have thought you'd like someplace that helps pokemon."

"I do! It's just… People there know a lot about pokemon. A-and about Nebby…" Her voice, already quiet, drops to a whisper. "I meant what I said before, but you should probably know… Nebby… it seems to be a very rare pokemon. It came from far, far away."

Her bag squeaks. " **Not far! Different! Dif-fer-ent!** "

"If Nebby comes out there and somebody sees…"

" **I know better!** "

"Somebody who knows a lot about pokemon especially…They could notice, and tell somebody else."

"Oh. I hadn't thought about that. Sorry about dragging you in there."

"It's okay. It's not your responsibility to worry about that stuff." Lillie sighs. "Nebby… It seems to have a very strange power… It used that power to save me once when I was in danger. But some...other people want Nebby for themselves, to use that power. That's why only the professor and Kahuna Hala and other people I can trust know about it… That's why it's so important you keep this a secret, and don't tell anyone else about Nebby or what happened on that bridge. Please…"

"Of course," Bonnibel said. "I promised already, just like you did for me." She wonders if both promises will run out together. Bonnibel almost fell into the river yesterday and Bonnibel almost fell into the river last month are very different. And she can't picture the girl keeping hold of the pokemon much longer than a month or two more, at which point there's no secret for Bonnibel to keep. "Well, at least we've got drinks now!" She offers one to Lillie, who tries to take the cup only to drop it with a yelp. Right, hot. Bonnibel catches it relatively smoothly, with only a little splashing out onto her hand.

"I'm so sorry! It was just, it felt burning hot!"

"No harm done," Bonnibel says. "Try holding it at the rim, the paper's thicker there so there's more insulation."

Lillie gingerly takes the cup and takes a breath of steam. "You must think I'm such a wuss."

Bonnibel licks the drips off her hand, tasting the momentary sweet-bitter of cocoa and the lasting soapy-astringent of sunscreen. There's red marks left behind where it touched, but it's only visible close up, and the scalding won't be enough for noticeable blisters. "No, they're real hot. I just don't mind hot things is all." She'd blow on the top too, because she wants to be able to taste it when she takes a sip, but with the sunscreen still slick on her tongue, she'll have to wait a while regardless.

They walk a while with Lillie drinking the hot cocoa a millimeter at a time.

Lillie slows a bit by the clothing store to look at the outfits in the window. "Oh. Bonnibel... Tell me, do you pick out all your own clothes?"

"My mom does it."

"Oh, your mother must have a great sense of style then. I love the way that you dress. I...I've always just worn the clothes that my mother wanted me to wear. I don't really know what kind of thing would suit me..."

Bonnibel considers suggesting she visit Bonnibel's mother, get some of Bonnibel's extra clothes or go shopping together. And perhaps her mother would have fun with it, be distracted from Bonnibel. But on reflection, it's probably best not to shove another kid Bonnibel's age at her mom. It'd invite too many comparisons, and it's not like it's over just because she's walked out the door. Instead, Bonnibel goes with, "I think you look pretty too. Like -" Bonnibel casts about for dates and decides that's a bad idea, so she continues with the vague, "Like someone from a fancy painting. Like you stepped from the frame."

Lillie smiles, but not without reserve, so that wasn't quite the right thing to say. Perhaps Lillie heard and didn't like the implication of old-fashioned, but Bonnibel in her modern shirt and shorts can't be expected to know the difference between the original dresses and the slimmed down, machine-sewed recreation Lillie wears. Or maybe she just doesn't like how she looks now, and wants a reason to change it. "Anyway," Bonnibel tries, "if you try out lots of different looks, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it. People aren't born knowing about fashion. Adults just had more time to figure out what they like."

Now Lillie's smile looks relieved. "You're right. I'll...I'll go in there again sometime!"

Lillie's bag hisses, " **Gotta find it again…** "

"Nebby, you've got to stay quiet." She strokes the bag anxiously. "Oh! At the pokemon center, you said you had a full team of pokemon already, didn't you?"

"Kind of," Bonnibel says. "I've caught a bunch of pokemon, like Professor Kukui asked. I'm not sure which ones I'll raise yet. The yungoos...well, here." She pulls out the pokeball and taps the button. "She's probably the strongest one I've caught." At her feet, the yungoos rears upright, head swiveling from side to side. Bonnibel bends down and grabs her, then twists her arm around to let the yungoos stand on her palm and wrist. She holds her out for Lillie's inspection.

"Oh, hello!" Lillie says. She holds out her own arm. The yungoos sniffs, then glances back at Bonnibel, who shrugs. The yungoos scampers across and runs over Lillie's shoulder. The girl giggles.

"I caught a rattata as well. I'm thinking of training those two. I liked the story about them."

"Really? What story?"

"About why they're here."

Lillie looks more lost than usual. "Because of boats?" Her hair chatters, " **To kill the rattata!** "

"Oh, you know…" Bonnibel pulls her thoughts together and starts, "People brought rattata here, and the rattata were happy here. Then, people decided they didn't like how happy the rattata were here, so they killed them, but no matter how many they killed, there were still rattata alive. So people decided to get another pokemon, one that would kill all the rattata and be killed too, so the island would be back the way it was before either of them, and they brought the yungoos here. But the rattata still didn't all die, and then the yungoos didn't die either. And now, they're both here. It's such a nice story, isn't it?"

"I guess…" Lillie said, clearly dubious. "Um, but nobody meant for the yungoos to die." Behind her mouth, behind her head, there's silence.

"You don't think so?" Bonnibel says, as if she's surprised. "But if yungoos did only sleep when it was cold like people used to think, and it's always warm here, they would've all been dead before long. But maybe you're right and they just didn't realize that."

Lillie's silent for a few moments. "No...when you say it all like that...it seems they must've." Then more quietly, "It's sad we did that. All of it."

The cup in her hand feels only warm now, not hot. Bonnibel rubs her tongue against the roof of her mouth and finds the sunscreen seems fully gone, so she sips her cocoa. There's a faint hint of spiciness to it, perhaps to offset the warmth of the drink in such a hot climate. Or maybe just as part of the pun? Spicy cocoa, electric Koko?

There's a muffled cacophony of children shouting up ahead, behind stone walls.

"...and fingers legs and lips, legs and lips, and eyes and ears, and mouth and hips, hands and fingers legs and lips, legs and lips!"

"Oh, there's the school," Lillie says, craning her neck to try to see better as they approach the open gate.

"Keep going!" cries an adult voice, and then everyone shouts, "Head and shoulders knees and toes, knees and toes, head and shoulders knees and toes, knees and toes!"

It looks like the little kids are out for exercise in the courtyard.

"And eyes and ears, and mouth and nose, head and shoulders knees and toes, knees and toes. Feet and tummies arms and chins, arms and chins, feet and tummies arms and chins, arms and chins, and eyes and ears, and mouth and shins, feet and tummies arms and chins, arms and chins!"

Lillie hesitates in the middle of the gate. "They look like they're having fun."

"Hands and fingers legs and lips, legs and lips, hands and fingers legs and lips, legs and lips, and eyes and ears, and mouth and hips!"

"Sure," says Bonnibel, not stopping, and Lillie runs a step to catch up.

"Hands and fingers legs and lips, legs and lips!"

"Was your school like that?" Lillie asks. "Shouting and jumping and singing?"

Bonnibel considers. "Yeah, sometimes. Yours wasn't?"

"Head and shoulders knees and toes, knees and toes, head and shoulders knees and toes, knees and toes!"

"Oh, um, I didn't go to school. My mother thought it was better for u-um, me, to learn at home. But so, um, they have that song in Kanto too? Did you learn the song about the shinx at school too?"

Bonnibel, focused on the faint spice of the cocoa, almost says, "Sometimes." She catches herself and says instead, "Yeah. There's lots of songs."

"And eyes and ears, and mouth and nose, head and shoulders knees and toes, knees and..."

"What's your favorite one to sing?"

"Oh," says Bonnibel cheerfully, "I hate songs."

"Oh." Lillie is evidently feeling comfortable enough that after a couple seconds she decides to continue the topic. "But you know them?"

"Sure. Lots of them. People sing all the time. Sometimes -" she gestures behind them, in the direction of the school "- I sing along with everyone else. Other times other people do all the singing. Either way the song goes on." Bonnibel pauses, but then decides, "It's no different than what I said about fashion. If you listen long enough, you'll learn all the songs."

Lillie laughs. "There's too many for anyone to ever learn them all."

"I'm sure it's not that hard," Bonnibel says. "Once you listen to a bunch, you'll find they're really all the same."

"Really? I - oh no, there's the pokecenter again!"

"That's the pokecenter by Route One," Bonnibel tells her. "Professor Kukui's house is southwest from here, isn't it?"

"Um…"

"Forward along the road, and then to the right from there?"

"Oh, yes! It's down."

It turns out to literally be downhill, which is perhaps why that much has stuck in Lillie's memory. A grassy path winds along the curve toward the beach Lillie squares her shoulders and takes a deep breath. "You can only reach the professor's lab by treading through a lot of tall grass." There's also a ledge, but evidently Lillie's fear of heights isn't limited to fatal drops if she prefers the grassy route. "He says he can research moves better when he is so surrounded by pokemon. He's a great trainer himself, you know. Since I'm not a trainer, though, I have to rely on using repels all the time." Despite bringing it up, Lillie doesn't seem to realize the last spray has faded. Bonnibel supposes it doesn't matter.

Sure enough, as Lillie walks as quietly and unobtrusively as she can manage through the grass, she accidentally startles a wingull. She yelps as he explodes from the grass in a flurry of disgruntled feathers. " **What? Who? Don't you dare attack me!** "

Bonnibel looks to the yungoos still on Lillie's shoulder. "Sand attack."

The yungoos runs down and tries to jump at the wingull. Her teeth clack shut below his tail as he flies up. " **Go away! Nobody wants you here!** "

"Sand attack," Bonnibel repeats icily. The yungoos glances back at her, anxious, then spins and starts kicking up sand.

Pellets of water shoot out from the sandy cloud. One strikes the yungoos, knocking her to the side.

"Sand attack." The yungoos scrambles upright and gets back to kicking. Unable to see, the wingull won't risk flying. "Now, get in there and bite." The yungoos shoots into the mess. After a couple seconds, there's a shriek. Bonnibel throws another pokeball at the sound, and there's a flash of light.

The sand settles to reveal the yungoos sitting proudly next to the pokeball. " **I could've finished him off, too!** "

Bonnibel bends to stroke the top of her head, feeling the strange texture of the lighter fur. "Good job." She adds the wingull's pokeball to her bag.

Lillie says quietly, "Why are they so aggressive? I wish… I just wish… I don't want to hurt them..."

"Didn't anyone tell you the story about that?" Bonnibel asks. "Your mother, or your tutors?" Lillie shakes her head and Bonnibel huffs in disapproval. "They should've. Pretty much everyone everywhere's heard some version of the story about people and pokemon and tall grass. It goes like, 'Long ago, all the wild pokemon gathered. One pokemon said to the others, "I have been to the villages and seen the pokemon humans have taken into their homes. Those pokemon sit under their chairs, and eat the scraps from the humans' table." All the pokemon agreed they should do something to repay the humans for this. So a pokemon proposed to the others that they should always be ready to appear before humans always. That way, the humans would never go hungry. And they would fight the pokemon who lived with humans, so those pokemon should grow stronger and be able to do more for the humans. Thus, to this day, pokemon appear when people venture out.' And also thus, people shouldn't feel bad about any of it."

The yungoos chitters, " **That's stupid. I've never heard anything like that.** "

"But that's just something made up," Lillie says, frustration obvious in her voice.

Bonnibel shrugs. "It's something that's been told lots of times, and lots of ways," Bonnibel says. "Maybe a long time ago, the story was true, however it went."

" **No it sounds super fake,** " the yungoos squeaks.

"Aw, look at my yungoos squeaking away," Bonnibel coos. "Such a cute little baby! Do you think widdle Yungoos knows all the different stories and how they changed? Because then it'd be such a shame we can't understand her, since her thoughts about it would matter."

" **Hey!** "

"But...but what matters is what's really happening! If I knew, maybe things would be different."

Bonnibel would laugh, but, well, a laugh's as bad as a sob. Instead she shrugs. "Or maybe it wouldn't. And it's not like you could ask that wingull, after all."

After a moment, Lillie asks, "Did you want a wingull for your team? Are they a good pokemon?"

"He wasn't very, not compared to my yungoos here. But gotta fill the pokedex, right?" Bonnibel hasn't decided yet how far she's going to go with that, but it's the right thing to say.

"Yeah…" Lillie manages something more like a smile and continues, "The professor will be happy you're working so hard on it! It's really important to him, but he can't just go out and do it himself."

Down at the beach, Bonnibel can see a pair of slowpoke lounging on rocks, tails moving about with the waves. She'd have to swim out to catch them, and she won't be doing that for a few days.

The building looks like it was expensive - large, well built, bright paint - but is currently in the process of being ruined by nailing large planks of unfinished wood haphazardly onto the structure.

"Oh my," Bonnibel says, all earnestness. "Was there a bad storm recently?"

Lillie laughs painfully. "Oh, um, you see… It's just part of the hazards of pokemon research! The Pokémon Research Lab has its own unique charm, as I think you might agree. I've actually been, um, imposing on the professor here for the past three months. I'm not much of an assistant, but it's the least I can do to pay him back for letting me stay." She sighs. "Maybe I'd be more help if I were a real pokemon trainer, too..."

They're nearly at the door as she says this, and in answer, Kukui's voice booms out. "Oh yeah, Rockruff! Let's go! Give it everything you've got! My body is ready. Woo!"

"Ah… There they go again…"

The rockruff barks madly, " **Are we teasing Lillie again? Okay!** " and then there's a crashing sound.

"The professor... He never stops researching moves. Not even...inside the lab itself. Looks like we'll have to patch the roof again…" Lillie sags. "And I had just washed his lab coat and finally gotten it clean, too. Now it'll be in shreds... and I'm no good at mending clothes... so he'll just have to buy another new one… We should probably go in before he does any more damage..."

Bonnibel recalls her yungoos and climbs up the porch steps.

Things look neater through the door. There's a glass tank built into the floor that takes up a quarter of the room and no sign of damage to the smooth hardwood floors. There's just the wood fragments from the roof to ruin the picture.

"Hey there, Bonnibel! Thanks for getting her for me, Lillie!"

The rockruff starts barking again. " **You smell so weird! You smell like you took a bath in sunscreen! You smell like you took five baths in sunscreen!** " It's hard to fit with the idea Kukui is any sort of great trainer. Either this is a pet, which still doesn't speak well to his attitude, or Lillie considers just about anyone amazing at pokemon training.

Further in, a snubbull grumbles, " **Of course she did, dummy. Don't you remember Lillie's skin turning all red? And this one looks like she's made of snow.** " If Bonnibel wasn't a person and could understand the noises pokemon made, she'd be offended by the turn of phrase. She's no snow child; Bonnibel's coloring marks her as her father's daughter.

"Of course. However I can be a help… I am supposed to be your assistant, right?"

"Rockruff's moves were just so stylin', and I was making good progress with my research. Say, Bonnibel, lemme see your pokedex for a second, yeah?"

Bonnibel passes it to him with a smile.

"So what do you think of the place? Not bad, right?"

"It's nice. And everyone's been so nice," Bonnibel says.

"Nice!" He gives her a thumb's up. "But that's not why I called you here, eh? Here! It finally arrived!"

"It…?" Lillie repeats.

"What's wrong, Lillie? Don't make me do all the talking!" Without pausing for breath, he continues, "See, there's this pokemon inside your pokedex called rotom…"

"Really?" Bonnibel says.

"Oh," Lillie says with relief. "I can tell you about rotom. They're peculiar pokemon, with bodies made up of something like electricity. They can take up residence in machines."

Lillie has such interesting viewpoint on cause and effect.

"Yeah, buddy! And to put that crazy skill of rotom's to work… It's the next generation of pokedexes, but it's only complete once a rotom has gone into this body specially developed for it! A whole new way for people and pokemon to communicate. Woo!" He grins and Bonnibel smiles back. "And there's only a few of these beauties out in the world so far!"

Bonnibel says, "How exciting!"

"And now if I power up your pokedex with the replacement parts that I just got in…"

There's suddenly a buzzing rotom floating in the air next to Kukui. Bonnibel smiles at them, expecting little difficulty. Rotom don't exist apart from people. They know their place better than most pokemon.

"Hey now! Sorry 'bout that, Rotom. Guess I surprised you?"

" **Huh?** "

"Here, boy! I powered up your favorite 'dex! Given Bonnibel here a helping hand, yeah?"

" **That!** " They vanish again, and then the whole pokedex floats back up into the air. The clunky form makes more sense now.

Static hisses, " **Nice to meet you, pal! Gentle on the goods, okay?** " and then from the speakers, "Nice to meet you, pal! Gentle on the goods, okay?"

"See, Bonnibel? Now Rotom can talk right to you!"

"How amazing," Bonnibel tells him. She supposes they're meant to nag her about what pokemon she still needs to catch. Can that be muted too?

"I know, right? From what I can tell, yeah, it looks like Rotom has taken a liking to you!"

Bonnibel nods. "I'm sure we'll be great friends."

"And this will help how exactly?" There's disapproval, but Lillie's voice is mostly just bafflement.

"Bonnibel hasn't been here in Alola too long yet. So I decided to give her this special rotomdex to help her navigate around."

"Thank you very much," Bonnibel says. It probably won't matter - she doesn't intend to stop off at her mother's house, and nobody else will care about enough about a trainer's travels to listen to what a pokemon has to say.

"You can see where you're headed just by looking at Rotom, and if you give it a little tap, you can check out the full map!"

Bonnibel is about to tell him how terribly useful that sounds when Hau bursts in. "A-lo-la! The salty breeze sang to me and brought me here to you!" This is easily translated: "Someone told me you were headed here." She's curious if it went straight from someone in the city to Hau or if it passed through his grandfather, but there's no opening to pry, as Hau is already distracted by the fact there's a loft. Doesn't come here often then...things aren't very good between Hala and Kukui. Bonnibel hopes that doesn't cause any tension as her mother settles in.

Lillie's also distracted in keeping him from climbing up, flinging herself between him and the ladder. "It's private!" she shouts, voice high.

"Sorry! Okay!" Hau backs away, hands up.

"If you see a person or a pokemon who needs help, you just help them…" Kukui says breezily. "Right, Bonnibel? Hau? And that's why I'm letting Lillie stay up there in the loft." He turns to Bonnibel. "So, Bonnibel, I'm leaving this rotomdex in your hands! Rotom, you look after Bonnibel, yeah?"

"Yeah," Bonnibel echoes, smiling.

"Right!" Hau says abruptly, snapping his fingers. "My grandfather has a gift for you ready too, yeah! He worked hard all night and the z-ring's ready!"

Kukui laughs. "You've got a lot to do, Bonnibel, yeah. But you were able to fully use your pokemon's moves in your very first battle. I think you must have a talent for drawing out pokemon's strengths, yeah, and you should have no problem mastering the z-ring too. The island challenge will be your chance to become the strongest trainer around - the island challenge champion, woo!" He gives her a dramatic wink. "Especially if you remember to keep catching pokemon along the way. A trainer's only as good as their pokemon, after all! It seems like you're pretty talented in that respect too."

"You've caught a pokemon already?" Hau says. "Wow!"

Lillie opens her mouth and says, "Bonnibel didn't catch just one!" Oblivious to Kukui's meaningful glare and moving eyebrows, she continues, "She's caught six!"

Hau doesn't shout, or throw up his hands, or do any of the exaggerated theatrics Bonnibel's seen from him this far. He stops for an instant, then looks rapidly between Bonnibel and Kukui. Finally, "Six?"

"Well, I was out all night," Bonnibel says. "I'm still jetlagged, so I figured better to get an early start instead."

There's something Hau wants to say, but it doesn't come out. Instead his mouth closes, his lips draw back into a toothy smile, and when he opens his mouth again it's to say, "Haha, wow! That's amazing."


	3. There once were humans and pokemon

Anonymous guest! ❤! If you're bothered by account-making, this is crossposted to archiveofourown dot org, which allows direct replies to all comments, anon or not.

 _-Does the mom know the truth behind MC? It's something I can't quite get a grasp on yet. My assumption is no, the mom doesn't know, or if she does, she's in serious denial._

Her mother feels she is so, so lucky to have not lost her only child, to get to see her grow up and be happy. To be ungrateful in any way for such a miracle would be tempting fate. Better to move halfway across the world than stick around anyone else who might even suggest it.

Also, to everyone, while, as the word count suggests, this isn't hard to write in the traditional sense, I really need a sizable buffer for editing/rearranging scenes/figuring out how I should be dividing up the wordcount, and three chapters in a month has chewed right through that.

Edit: Is Ch4 just about done? Yes. Ch5+, nope, sorry, completely overestimated myself, see you guys late February.

* * *

"So, um…" Hau says as they start toward Iki Town. "How's little Popplio?"

"He helped me catch a grimer!" Bonnibel says. "It was a tough battle, so I brought him to the pokemon center. I intended to go back and get him when I was done visiting Professor Kukui, but I guess it'll have to wait until after we visit Kahuna Hala."

"Oh, I'm sure Tutu won't mind a little detour! And grimer, I bet it looked really different than the ones you've seen before, yeah? I heard that Kanto grimer are just pure poison types, too."

"He was really colorful," Bonnibel agrees. "And those crystals are so sparkly, too."

"Yeah, shame you can't play with them, since they can't keep from shedding poison everywhere… They're an important part of life here, though! They keep the rubbish down, especially in cities. Tutu says we used to have a big problem with trubbish everywhere, always getting into trash and spreading it all over and taking up lots of space, but the grimer dissolve the trash away instead. And they clean up all sorts of other waste too! And, uh, the trubbish."

A half breath of silence, then Hau starts filling it again. "I've heard our grimer are better for trainers than the foreign grimer are, thanks to their type and stuff! What do you think?"

"Either one's too messy for me, no matter how good a pokemon they are otherwise," Bonnibel says. Then, just in case, she adds extra brightly, "I only caught him to fill the pokedex."

Hau's smile so very nearly doesn't falter. She wonders if Hala's will be the same. "Oh yeah. But, if you haven't got Popplio, what pokemon do you have, that you're going to battle with?"

"There was a rattata that put up a good fight, and I found a yungoos as well. Them for now, I think."

"Oh yeah, those are both cool. But, uh, they don't really get along. In fact, yungoos got brought here from the south to try to get rid of the rattata, and it didn't exactly work but it was enough you never see an Alola rattata during the day because that's when yungoos are out. You can't raise them together."

"But they both seem so nice," Bonnibel tells him, grinning. "I'm sure they'll end up being great friends once they get to know each other."

Hau's own smile fractures. But he doesn't say anything more. He warned Bonnibel of a problem she'll face. It's not like it affects anyone else if Bonnibel's out a pokemon or two because they decide to kill each other, so it's not like it's anyone else's place to step in.

"How many pokemon are there here, again...?" Bonnibel wonders aloud.

"Oh, uh…" Hau's eyes dart.

"It's around two hundred and sixty!" Lillie says. "It depends on who's counting. There's pokemon that've been reported seen in the wild, but people aren't sure if they've actually set up a self-sustaining population or are just ones let go by trainers."

"But that's like, including evolved pokemon and stuff, so it wouldn't mean catching that many…"

Bonnibel is doing nothing wrong to continue dragging out this topic. "Oh, I think I'm supposed to catch those too. I mean, it's not like I'd have time to raise each one while I'm busy with the island challenge, right? Plus there's all those pokemon who can evolve into more than one thing."

Hau laughs with such discomfort Lillie looks at him anxiously. "That...would be a lot of work, yeah?"

"Yeah," Bonnibel agrees, then decides try a stab on a different topic, "but I mean, isn't all of this? Professor Kukui says the Alolan island challenge is about striving to become the very best battler of them all, the island challenge champion!"

"Yeah. It's, yeah, a big deal, to complete the whole thing. Afterward, you might become a trial captain, or even end up chosen by one of the tapu to become a kahuna! But just doing it to the end is what matters. You travel the whole of Alola, you encounter all sorts of people and pokemon and places!" Hau's smile is back to the easy one. He's better calloused here. "I've never left Melemele, but I will once I complete both the trial and grand trial here! And once I've done them all, I'll have visited every island in Alola!"

"The island challenge…" Lillie says. "So this is how the people of Alola connect with the world around them."

"Exactly!" Hau says. "And how you prove yourself to the kahunas, and to - to your whole family, and everybody. Tutu says, too many kids these days don't care enough about completing the island challenge. They haven't got any work ethic, they just want things handed to them. Well, he wouldn't let that sort of thing slide here, but I've heard it's getting to be a real problem on Ula'ula Island. If you can't even complete the island challenge, then how can you expect people to believe you can do anything else? You've gotta prove yourself. I'm definitely going to do it! I'm gonna be the next kahuna someday, after my gramps!"

"I'm sure you will," Bonnibel lies, beaming at him.

It's going to go particularly badly for Hau. As soon as he enters the pokecenter, he's greeted by name and a friendly inquiry about if his litten and pichu need a rest. The people living here have to work out who Bonnibel is, but they know Hau at a glance.

"Oh, they're both fine! We haven't done any training yet today," Hau says, as oblivious to the disapproval faint in the man's eyes as he was the pointed nature of the question in the first place.

"We're here to pick up my popplio. I left him to be taken care of at the pokecenter on the other side of the city a little while ago."

She's told it'll just be a moment to transfer, then, "Oh. Been in twice in one day, huh? Such a go-getter you are!"

When they step out of the pokemon center, a bunch of little kids start shouting at them from the school windows. "The tauros kicked Nelly in the belly in the barn, the tauros kicked Nelly in the belly in the barn, the tauros kicked Nelly in the belly in the barn, and Old Hala said it would do no harm!" the children shriek. Hau groans as they continue, "What would?" They take a breath, then belt out: "The tauros kicked Nelly in the belly in the barn! The tauros kicked Nelly in the belly in the barn! The tauros kicked Nelly in the belly in the barn! And Old Hala said it would do no harm!"

"Tauros must be causing trouble again," Hau says over the screaming.

"What would? THE TAUROS KICKED NELLY IN THE BELLY-"

"I'm going to Iki Town!" Hau shouts back at them. The song falters slightly as some of the kids drop the words, but the others keep going and then the other voices surge back in to all shout, "-NELLY IN THE BELLY IN THE BARN-"

As they start to walk away, Lillie asks, "Did they make that all up themselves?"

"I guess?" Hau says. "I've, uh, it's always been about my gramps and his tauros when I've heard it. Tauros is always making a fuss in the middle of the city." He looks at Bonnibel. "They don't sing that over in Kanto, right?"

"-NO HARM! What would? THE TAUROS KICKED-"

Bonnibel says, "Kahuna Hala's name doesn't come up. The person is just some rancher saying that. But yeah, I've heard that song before."

"Huh," Hau says. "So... I guess kids back then knew it, and then when a real tauros started causing problems, they thought it was funnier to make it about that one, and now that's the song everybody knows."

"Oh! It's like what you said about the other story," Lillie says. "The one about why wild pokemon attack people, that it's probably changed a lot from the first time. I wonder who made it up originally?"

An inattentive yungoos darts across the path. He freezes midrun when he sees them, then puffs his fur and hisses, **Don't you try anything!**

Well, that rattata had wanted a chance to bite a yungoos, hadn't she. Bonnibel pulls that pokeball from her bag and tosses it forward.

The rattata squeaks, " **Hey wait-** " and Bonnibel says sharply, "Focus!" The rattata goes quiet but trembles a bit. "Tail whip!" She looks at Bonnibel anxiously but obeys and cowers, waving her tail submissively.

" **Haha, yum yum!** " The yungoos darts forward, mouth opening, and Bonnibel waits until there's no chance of him changing trajectory to shout, "Quick attack!"

The rattata releases the nervous energy as she jumps to the side, then bounces back to strike the flank of the yungoos as he barrels past, digging teeth and claws in. "Bite higher!" She shifts her grip and sinks her teeth into the neck.

The yungoos squeaks, " **Mauja!** "

There's a cry from the grass to the left. " **Ikiaq?!** "

He squeals louder, " **Help!** " as if he really believes anyone would intervene against a trainer.

Her rattata continues chomping away at the flailing yungoos. He's beaten as far as a fight goes, but Bonnibel doesn't call her pokemon back yet. She'll wait until he properly gives up, and he seems set on screaming for a while yet. Then the grass rustles from something running through. Another yungoos shoots out.

It's so surprising Bonnibel doesn't react in time. The second yungoos smacks into the rattata, tearing at her side and the two roll away from the injured one. The new yungoos jumps away, putting himself between the two pokemon and hissing furiously, " **Don't you touch him!** "

It's like they think this is how the world works.

Bonnibel's hands are squeezing tighter and tighter. Her thumb presses down against the second joint of her forefinger, slides down to press against the flat of the bone.

" **You some dumb tourist?! You can't catch us so just go away! Just go away!** "

The rattata squeaks wildly, spraying red-tinged spittle, " **She didn't trade for me, stupid! But no way she'll catch you so I'll eat your head and leave the rest for my gang! Even if you beat me she's got five others so you'll lose no matter what! Nobody wants you here anyway!** "

" **Like anybody wanted you! You're accidents!** "

"Oh geeze, now a second one…" Hau says anxiously. "Maybe… Or should I..."

Bonnibel uncurls her hands, breathes in, says, "Quick attack. Dart in and out, Rattata. You see where he's standing, don't you? And who's not standing? No hurry."

" **Haha, yeah!** "

Her rattata starts running about, forcing the yungoos to move in a tighter circle to stay between her and the injured one, nipping whenever she gets the chance, keeping up a steady stream of squeaks. Bonnibel shouts when she can see the yungoos getting ready to strike, and mostly the rattata reacts in time. The yungoos gets in one solid bite, but she gets free before he can do more and it isn't enough to slow her down, while he's getting worn down just trying to move fast enough in the cramped space. The other one manages to get his feet under him but he's swaying, the red at his neck staying wet from continued bleeding.

" **Ikiaq...can you move? I think we need to run.** "

"You've got this, Rattata," Bonnibel says, smiling widely. "If the other one tries to go anywhere, it shouldn't be hard to finish him off. Until then, focus on the new one."

" **Run now!** "

"Now!" Bonnibel orders, as the yungoos makes the mistake of turning to check on his friend, and the rattata tackles him onto his side and digs her teeth into his belly. His squeak is so much louder than his friend's was. And then she's on the first one trying to get to the grass, jumping on his back and shaking him by the neck.

"Good job," Bonnibel says. "Come back now."

She huffs but jumps off and prances back, tail straight up despite the blood dripping from the bites. Bonnibel estimates a minute at most before the euphoria wears off.

"Wow," Hau agrees.

Lillie says nothing and when Bonnibel looks over, she sees the girl has her hands over her face. She nudges Lillie. "Battle's over."

Lillie starts to remove her hands from her face, but has barely lowered them before she makes a strange horrified sound and presses them over her mouth.

"They're alive," Bonnibel points out. Indeed, the second one is upright. He stops by his friend, half dips his head to try to grab, glances at Bonnibel. She smiles wider, drops her eyes to her rattata and then back to him. He runs into the tall grass, leaving his friend where he lies.

Lillie kneels by the first yungoos instead. She's barely sprayed the medicine before he snaps at her and shoots drunkenly into the grass as well. She sighs like she's the one in pain and heads for the rattata to do the same. The rattata grinds her teeth together, " **Ohhhh that feels better.** "

"Please try not to push your pokemon too hard… Um…I mean…if you don't mind…" Lillie's voice trails away.

Bonnibel rubs her rattata's chin, feeling the blood on her finger, the lesson learned. "But if they're never pushed, they'll never get better."

"My gramps says that," Hau chimes in. "You've got to battle every time with no holds barred. He says those are the kinds of battles that honor Tapu Koko."

"I do say that!" They look up to see Hala is making his way around a bend. He takes in the blood on the ground and on her rattata, the way the other two stand on either side of her. "A fierce battle happened, I take it?"

"Oh," Bonnibel says modestly, "they were only a pair of wild pokemon. Nothing like a trainer battle."

Hala looks over her pokemon, glances between her and Hau, and chides, "Your rattata has fought for you, so show it the same care in return, Bonnibel."

Bonnibel nods and recalls her rattata. "Oh, of course," she says. Even if his criticism set her to second-guessing and hesitancy, it wouldn't put Hau on equal footing. Perhaps he hopes despite knowing better. "What brings you out? I hope it wasn't for me. We were just coming up to Iki Town."

"No, I've heard there's been some difficulty with ornery old Tauros again," Hala says. "So I've come out to get Tauros calmed down again. Why don't you all come along? He's quite an impressive creature."

"Really? I'd love to! Tauros are awesome," Bonnibel says.

"And I thought I might find you along the way, so I brought along your new z-ring."

It's a bracelet of light greyish-yellow rocks. "Oh, wow!" Bonnibel slips it onto her wrist, feeling the weight of it. Another thing to carry around.

"You won't be able to use it yet, but once you complete the trial of this island and receive your first crystal, you'll be able to try to unlock our island specialty, z-power. By heaping all of the trainer's feelings onto the pokemon at the right moment, regular moves become supercharged."

Feelings? Or is that just how people talk about it, like - "Like mega evolution?" Bonnibel asks.

Hala laughs, surprised. "Yes, I suppose a bit. But not so terribly rare as that, and…" He hrms in his throat, an oddly honest sound. "Well, from what little I've seen of it, mega evolution doesn't seem focused the same way. There's a bond there, of course there is. But the way the trainers look, there isn't the same emotion I see when people here use z-power, and I've never seen the trainer to seem worn out afterward, the way z-moves do."

Feelings, then.

"Perhaps you children will one day get a chance at both. Of course, that's far in the future. Getting the hang of z-moves alone will take some time."

Bonnibel doesn't laugh or sob. Bonnibel doesn't want to.

"And you'll need to convince Captain Ilima, in Hau'oli, that you're ready for your first trial first. Unlike Kanto, we don't just let anyone wander in to give it a shot."

Hau can have this, then. Bonnibel doubts it'll be enough to make a difference.

"But I'm sure you'll impress us, Bonnibel," Hala says. "After all, to get a z-ring so early, before you even have the crystals to use with it, Tapu Koko must be expecting big things from you!"

If he thinks she buckles like his grandson does, he really hasn't been paying attention. "Oh, I'll do my best!" she gushes back. "The trial sounds so exciting! I can't wait to try. Everything's been going just wonderfully so far. And I've caught lots of pokemon already!" She doesn't even give him a chance to politely ask about it, to try to say something about how important friendship or whatever is, just barrels along with, "I caught a pikipek first, that's how I scraped my arm, chasing one, and a caterpie, and a ledyba, and a yungoos, and a rattata - you saw her, isn't she great - and a grimer, and I just caught a wingull on my way with Lillie to visit Professor Kukui!" Bonnibel delights in his eyes. She keeps going. "That's hardly anything, of course, Lillie or Hau said there's two hundred sixty in all so that's just a tiny fraction of the pokemon I'd need to catch to really fill up Professor Kukui's pokedex, it's, oh…" She pauses like she's doing the math, but not so long anyone else can jump in. "Only about one-thirtieth of the way, wow. I haven't even seen a cute pichu like Hau's anywhere yet! I hope they're not rare or anything."

Hau jumps on the opening, like they can all just forget the rest of what she just said if the conversation moves on fast enough, and replies, "Oh, they are. They only live near Iki Town and Hau'oli City, and they're so timid they're still really hard to find. It took me all day to find mine, and I knew the area around Iki Town really well."

"Yes…" Hala says. "Catching even a single pokemon can be quite the undertaking. But-" He pauses. She can see in his face he's realized what that could mean. And she can see in his face that, as it turns out, what's most important is... "But if Kukui asked you, it must be very important, and he must be sure you're up for the task. I'm sure you won't let him down."

"Of course!" Bonnibel says. She wonders what else he'd abandon for Hau.

He smiles at her. It isn't Bonnibel's problem, how people choose to be disappointed.

The kids aren't singing when Hala heads by, though Bonnibel doesn't know if that's because they wouldn't or simply because they're back inside. The sun is still high and she adds a fresh layer of sunscreen as they walk.

The tauros is heard before he's seen, distant bellows up ahead, " **Home! Home! Home!** " They find him standing in the middle of the street, a couple machamp standing anxiously well to the side. It looks like the machamp were working on a nearby building and came over, no doubt concerned. Typical of faith evolutions. There's also somewhat of a crowd, but they're much further back than the machamp.

The tauros bellows and huffs, " **I! Want! To! Go! Home! I want to go home!** " He stamps his front legs, but most of the force is on the left, with the right coming down so lightly she can hear the two sounds distinctly. She can't see anything wrong from the outside, so she'd guess an old wound healed badly, or even just the memory of it. Such a shame - a pokemon this experienced, and he hasn't even learned to handle something so minor.

"What's all this, Tauros?" Hala booms, walking forward slowly.

The crowd oohs and ahhs as the tauros flinches and drops his head. He shifts his weight anxiously, lifts his right leg and then sets it down again, lows, " **I want to go home…** "

Hala keeps walking at the same pace. "Now now…" The tauros snorts and shakes his head, his tails lash, he shies back a step, but Hala keeps going until he can lay his hand on the pokemon's head, right where the horn meets flesh. "Shhhh… There's no need to scare all these people..."

The crowd murmurs how impressed they are, what would they do without the kahuna to keep problem pokemon in line. Bonnibel thinks the children before have the right of it - what's a problem pokemon doing loose?

"Time for you to head back home, Tauros," Hala says.

The tauros moos quietly, " **It isn't…** "

He looks back to the children. "Ho, Bonnibel," Hala calls, letting go. "Why don't you give Tauros a little pat before it goes?"

Bonnibel grins back. "I'd love to!"

Hala is not expecting this, but Bonnibel is there before he can do anything else. And he's really not expecting it when she doesn't go for a pat to the side but puts her hand on the tauros' nose, right above his big crushing teeth. "Aw, he's so soft!" The tauros starts to try to toss his head but she leans forward, forehead to forehead, and he's so surprised he freezes.

She breathes, "Think you're causing trouble? He loves doing this. You're a pokemon. You don't get a choice. Accept it."

Then she skips back to Hau and tells him his grandfather's so great to calm down an angry tauros just like that.

Hau bursts into the relieved laughter of someone who's just glad that, against all odds, no one's bleeding. "The kahunas sure are something, eh? Able to calm a raging pokemon without even needing to battle... Now that's something! I mean, I like Tutu's tauros plenty and all... but it is pretty scary! I don't want to ride on it!"

"I'm glad it's not upset anymore…" Lillie says. "But weren't you scared? What if it'd bitten you or something?"

Hau laughs again, still sounding a bit lightheaded. "Tauros don't bite, Lillie."

Hala leads the tauros away. Hau lets out a sigh, then says, "Hey, why don't we all go get something to eat? I'd love to bite into a malasada about now!

Bonnibel isn't supposed to be out with the sun this high...but she is supposed to make friends. And well, the only way she'll find out if the sunscreen's good enough is to see if she gets sunburnt. She's already planning to buy concealer anyway.

"I can show you a shortcut, too!" He points to a fence. Behind it is unkept grass, the sort of thing Bonnibel doesn't usually see in cities. People forget, she supposes. "If we cut through there, we'll be right by my favorite shop. Since we're both pokemon trainers, Lillie, you don't have anything to worry about with us!"

"O-okay."

Bonnibel expects him to jump the fence, but instead he pops open the red gate. "The gate isn't locked?" she asks.

"Of course not! It's just so little kids know not to go in."

Hau takes the lead, wading fearlessly into the grass. Bonnibel says to Lillie, "You should go next. That way nothing will try to pick you off from behind!" The girl goes paler and nods firmly.

From the back, Bonnibel looks over the area. In the corner there...under that bush...that dull yellow… As she walks by, she drops to one knee and throws a pokeball under. It connects, but then bursts open.

Hau looks back at her, brow scrunched.

"An abra," she explains. "Teleported away. Guess I'll have to try again."

There's the faintest hiss to her left, " **Or you could just leave us be you monster.** "

Bonnibel throws the pokeball into the grass.

Ding.

Her pokedex springs from her bag. In a static-infested voice, it says, " **Congrats! You** Congrats! **Registered a pokemon** you **in** registered **your pokedex** a. **It's** pokemon **a red** in your **letter day** pokedex. **And I'm** it's a **about as red as anything!** Red letter day and I'm about as red as anything!"

It then takes a photo of everyone, complete with a near-blinding flash.

Startled, Hau laughs. "What was that for, Rotom? Go and put that little trickster back in your bag, Bonnibel, and follow me!"

Bonnibel does so as Lillie mumbles, "Maybe Rotom just wants to try out its body's features…"

"So, I guess you really wanted an abra, huh."

She nods. "For the pokedex," she agrees. "What other sort of pokemon are around here?"

And there's her pokedex again.

" **Glad** glad **you asked!** You **in order** asked! **Of most** in **commonly to least** order **this area** of **has** most **been reported** commonly **to contain** to **abra** least **rattata** commonly **yungoos** this **wingull** area **meowth** has **magnemite** been **grimer** reported **and pichu** to contain abra, rattata, yungoos, wingull, meowth, magnemite, grimer, and pichu!" The pokedex bobs a little, then continues, " **In addition** in addition, **tentacool** tentacool, **finneon** finneon, **and pyukumuku are** and **often** pyukumuku **mentioned by** are **beachgoers** often mentioned by beachgoers!" One of the eye pictures on the screen winks. " **But that's** but **just the** that's **reports!** Just **it's up** the **to you to** reports! **Confirm it** it's **all!** Up to you to confirm it all!"

She really has to figure out how to turn it off.

Hau opens the gate and steps out onto the streets. "Come on, we're almost there!"

Across the road, there's adults complaining to each other.

"I saw those Team Skull numskulls loitering around the marina again. I reported it to the captain, of course."

Inside her bag, the pokedex's speakers come on again, buzzing, " **Did I** did **hear** I **someone say Team Skull** hear someone **in the marina?** Say Team Skull? In the marina?"

"This is what happens when young people have nothing to do and too much time on their hands."

"What a bunch of useless thugs!"

Those fences are still in Bonnibel's mind and she's not going to stick around, but when Hau says, "So what do you think? Hau'oli is something, eh? Alola's gotta be the best place ever to live!" she gives him a real smile.

"It's wonderful," she tells him.

Hau's face lights up. "And you haven't even had the best malasadas in the universe yet! If you want good eats, they can't be beat!" He points at a building. It has the head of a slurpuff painted on its sign. The tongue is lolling down of the exact center of the mouth rather than to the side and drooping down much too far, but it's just a painting. People haven't displayed actual slurpuff heads since...well two hundred years, maybe. Even the iconography faded from use.

Alola sure is an old-fashioned place. If they keep at it long enough, they'll swing around to modern.

Hau orders a plate piled high with pastries and goes toward one of the tables. Bonnibel can see other customers there, many sitting with pokemon. How perverse. "Who could resist giving their pokemon a few malasada, eh? They're just so cute!"

Lillie is nodding by her side, but Bonnibel says, "It seems…" She decides on, "Irresponsible."

"I'm not feeding them only malasada or anything. They still eat their regular pokechow," Hau tells her, which is precisely her point. Hau lets out his pichu and litten to sit on the table. He chooses one and tears it in half for them. It's oozing an unexpected filling. "But it makes them so happy! Plus malasada make your pokemon like you, and affectionate pokemon are better in battle! So really, it's sort of like training."

"That's true," Bonnibel says, taking one for herself and feeling the gritty sugar coat. "But if they only eat pokechow, they'll never know they're missing out on anything." She bites down. Even forewarned by seeing there's filling, it's not at all what she expected. There's an added nutty flavor warring with the eggy dough. She can taste milk but maybe from an unusual pokemon or else processed strangely. It reminds her a lot of the sushi at the buffet, a simple dish changed by a cacophony of additions. She squishes the dough around in her mouth, pleased.

Lillie is putting bite-sized pieces into her bag, heedless of the crumbs. Nebby eats noisily with a few growling sounds, " **I want to know what I'm missing!** " After a moment, she works up the courage to say, "Um...I think it's better to get to do some things you like. Instead of always doing the same things."

"Sure," Bonnibel says. "That's true for people. If you find out you like malasadas, you can go eat them when you feel like it. But when you get tired of bringing them, they won't get any more." She doesn't mention any of the choice beyond that, because it seems everyone here already understands pokemon don't get to pick their malasada.

"I'll never get tired of hanging out with Pichu and Litten!" Hau says.

The litten is silent, but the pichu squeaks loudly, " **Yeah! We're gonna be friends forever and ever!** "

He'll be a pikachu in no time, Bonnibel estimates. And likely a raichu soon after, when Hau gets tired of losing or his grandfather gets tired for him, not that it'll help. And Hau will grow old, and die, and he'll take the raichu with him.

"That's good," Bonnibel says. She takes another malasada, green in color and smelling of tea leaves. "Does your grandfather sit - does your grandfather share malasadas with Tapu Koko?" she corrects.

Hau laughs. "No. But maybe I'll offer it some someday, when I'm kahuna! Tapu Koko usually doesn't appear at all. It's been years since it even sang during the festival. But that's how the tapu are. Legend is, they used to be closer to people. Did you guys ever hear the story about the ancient kings?"

They shake their heads.

"Well, it's said that, in ancient times, the tapu served as the leaders of the armies of each island's king. That was before Alola was unified. But, if they used their z-power in battle, it caused great destruction across the islands. Because of this, the tapu came to no longer lend their aid in the wars of men. That's part of why they're known as the tapu," Hau continues. "It means, it's kind of like untouchable. Off-limits. Only the royalty could have anything to do with them, and after that, barely even the royalty."

"Off-limits," Bonnibel repeats. "So, in modern times, it's sort of like saying 'Uncatchable Koko'."

"Haha, yeah. Yeah, they're not like regular pokemon."

Bonnibel smiles. "Of course." She thinks of how everyone speaks of them, the vast gulf between that and the story Hau told. It's almost enough to make her want to stick around longer. To be here to see it the day they're dragged under with the rest.

She'll come back and visit now and again, she decides. Every couple decades or so. It won't be much longer.

"Alola doesn't still have royalty, though. I guess the kahunas replaced them?" Lillie asks.

"Yeah, they do the same kind of thing. But they're not rulers or anything," Hau says, with the blithe certainty of a princeling.

Lillie sighs. "Wouldn't that be cool though, kings and queens and princesses? I loved hearing all those fairy tales when I was little. My favorite was Cinderella."

"I liked the Swanna Princess," Hau says.

They look at Bonnibel. She thinks a moment. "Princess Alitaptap."

"Never heard of her," Hau says.

"I haven't either."

"I don't think it's very well known," Bonnibel says. It'd be written down for Bonnibel to learn in a place like... "I read it in an old book of fairy tales."

"Well, what's it about?" asks Hau.

"Well… Once, there was a land ruled by people who came from the sky. And the heavenly rulers had a daughter, who grew into a beautiful maiden who was perfect in every way. They named this princess Alitaptap, for she sparkled like a bright star, and everyone who saw her loved her. But sadly, Alitaptap of the sky was not like a human. Her heart was the same shining crystal as the rest of her, as cold and hard as it was beautiful. Alitaptap would never know love."

There's an intriguing hurt in Lillie's eyes at that.

Bonnibel continues, "One day, a hermit came. She was born from where the roots of the forest met the roots of the mountain. Because of that, she could understand the words of the pokemon who lived in the cliffs but she spoke the words of the people. 'I have heard terrible news!' cried the hermit. 'The xatu say we have no future. Warriors from a land beyond will come. They shall devour all our people, burn our crops, and throw poison into our lake, so no one shall live here again.' 'Oh, oh!' cried the king and queen. 'Oh, oh!' cried the people. They asked, 'Is there anything we can do?' Well, the hermit said that she'd heard this was certain to happen unless Alitaptap bore a child with one she loves. So, of course, they went to Alitaptap at once, crying out, 'You must marry! Tell us, who among us do you love most?' They waited, but Alitaptap did not respond. She stood in silence. Because, you see," Bonnibel said, smiling, "Alitaptap could not understand what they were asking. Her parents ordered she reply, but she did not. 'Come now, pick!' they cried impatiently, and she continued to stand silent. Terrified, they demanded she do so, or else they would kill her. But fear could not stir Alitaptap's crystal heart any more than love, and she continued to only stare at them. Furious, they struck her, and she shattered into ten thousand pieces of crystal that flew everywhere."

Hau and Lillie stare at her. After a few moments, Lillie says, "And then what?"

"I guess the invaders destroy them," Bonnibel says with a dismissive shrug.

"They don't put her back together?"

"That's awful!" Hau says. "How could they kill her? They must not have really loved her either."

Lillie nods furiously. "They - they only liked her because she was pretty. They had no idea how she felt at all. They didn't care."

The pichu eyes Bonnibel and squeaks, " **She sounds like the kind of person who'd say nobody should eat malasadas. No loss.** " The litten stays silent, looking pensive. Perhaps, despite Hau's best efforts, he'll survive his trainer.

"You think so?" Bonnibel says. "It isn't like they hurt her."

"They killed her!" says Lillie.

"Yeah," Bonnibel says. "But she didn't care."

They don't know what to say to that. It's not a lesson for them, anyway, and they don't deserve to learn anything from it. Bonnibel takes a third malasada. It's pink with red shreds of bounsweet throughout it. She begins to chew her way through the soft dough, so terrifically sweet that the sugar crystals above taste no different than grains of sand. "You should have the last one," she tells Lillie. "You haven't had any."

"Oh, um, I'm not hungry," Lillie says, looking down.

"Not hungry!" Hau gasps. "How can you not be hungry for malasadas? Are you still sick?"

"Si-um. Y-yes. I guess. I - I had a big breakfast, too, and my stomach hasn't settled." Bonnibel isn't sure if she's also expected to believe this despite the weight of evidence or if it's to be another friendly secret between them.

"Take it back with you then," Hau says. "So you can eat it later."

Lillie nods and picks it up. "That sounds good," she lies. Bonnibel doubts Nebby will be able to eat another whole malasada. She'll probably give it to those pokemon in Kukui's lab instead.

"Now that I've got some fuel in me, I wanna go right down to the marina and scream out loud... 'Watch me, Tutu!' No... 'Watch me, world! I'm gonna beat even my old gramps someday!' Do you know what - " Hau steps out the door and then his chatter cuts off. Bonnibel follows to find him staring at some young teenagers.

Lillie lets out a tiny gasp and grabs onto Bonnibel. Lillie's fingers are still gritty and damp with the sugar from the malasadas, and they're colder on her skin than Bonnibel would have expected. For an instant Bonnibel thinks of the time her hand was grabbed, of her hand grabbing back, but that hadn't been how it'd happened, because she wouldn't be Bonnibel then.

She's never killed a person.

"Yo, yo, yo, check it!" shouts one of the children across from them, dressed in the same dirty black outfits as the ones making a scene over berries. "It's Li'l Hau!"

"H-hey," stammers Hau.

The children begin their arm-waving attempts at taking up space. "Whenever, wherever we meet you, Team Skull don't even greet you! So, Hau, just give up the pokemon, yo."

Hau tenses up. "No way! You - you should just go home, and, and stop causing trouble for people!" At his feet, his litten hisses, fur puffed and a trickle of smoke coming from his mouth, while the pichu just trembles.

"Oh my, there you are," says someone to the right. He speaks with the smoothness of a native speaker, but there's a trace of a Kalosian breathiness. "Professor Kukui's assistant, and then you must be the girl from the festival, here to start her journey with our Hau. How nice to meet you!"

Bonnibel can see the muscles of Hau's shoulders release and he turns like the newcomer is the only one there, ignoring how the other kids are rushing toward them. No need for a fight, then? That's no fun. The newcomer is a teen older than the teens across from them, a bit into his sixteenth year, and must be a good trainer for Hau to feel so dismissively safe.

"What, what?! Why you trying to act hard when we're already hard as bone out here, homie?" There's a startling naivete about what he just said, and such pleasant misery underlying the complaint. Bonnibel favors them both with a smile.

They exchange a look. They're still moving their hands back and forth, the motion a decent disguise, but Bonnibel can see shakes running through the one on the left.

"Yo, let's check these fools."

"Oh my... How terrifying…" The sixteen year old makes a show of swallowing his laughter, and mock seriously says, "Only thieves steal people's pokemon. I won't stand for it." Then to her: "Well, girl who met Tapu Koko? You're new here, so why don't you take part in another of our island traditions and you try your hand at this? I'll mop up when you're done."

Bonnibel slides from Lillie's grip and steps in front of Hau, says, "Sure," brightly and then adds, "Pokemon thieves are terrible! I'll certainly fight everyone like that!"

The bag at her side is still being noisy. " **Ohhhh!** Ohhhh **a battle** ! A **against those** battle **Team Skull numskulls** against **in the marina?** Those Team Skull **count me in!** Numskulls in the marina? Count me in!" Which is certainly not happening, given how its parts have to be shipped in from another region.

"Yo, check how I change the game with my mad pokemon skills!" brags the kid who can keep his hands from shaking. His pokemon is a zubat.

Bonnibel has five pokemon on her at the moment. In a difficult fight, she could wring some use from even the ledyba, but she doesn't think she'll need that. These posturing kids aren't Team Rocket, or Team Argent, or Nightmare, or Magma, or Amaranth, or Lightning, or Mist, or Harmony, Wormwood, Obsidian, Rush, Lobelia, Clay, Fasces, Brushfire Steel Ateon Scythe Dimpse Mars Ivory Wight Aluminum - Not that Bonnibel would know any of them outside of history books. Bonnibel has no first hand experience. It's just a guess.

Popplio's been patched up, but she's sure he's well short of a hundred percent. Better to share the battering and start with the yungoos. And starters need an element of favoritism. They have nothing else, after all.

Plus, there's a pleasant symmetry to it. Her yungoos will be utterly useless during the night, but a zubat isn't much better in daytime. He's blind, sure, anyone can see that, but partial eyes remain under the thin, poorly pigmented skin, enough to know and flinch from the brightness of the sun.

The other boy's hands hover near his one pokeball, then a miracle: he manages a decision! Three pokemon on the field.

"I suppose I-" starts the sixteen year old, taking a step forward.

Bonnibel shakes her head, interrupting with, "It's no big deal. Trying to fight two on one, that's the sort of thing wild pokemon would do, isn't it?" She smiles at the kids in front of her. "I'm sure winning here won't be any harder than fighting any other pair of wild pokemon. After all, it's not something any real trainer does."

He laughs. The children in front of her don't. That's exactly how it goes. Everyone keeps telling her how different Alola is, and they just can't understand that nothing is ever different.

She could send out a second pokemon, make this a proper double battle. Instead she sets her yungoos to dancing between the zubat and drowzee. It's tiring, to spend so much time dodging about, but that's barely visible on the outside, not like the blood the yungoos draws with her nips.

Wild pokemon would fight better, because pokemon up close could see how the yungoos was slowing down, could do things like hold back, wait for a chance. It's wild pokemon that make up the greater difficulty of a pokemon journey, wild pokemon that make for rules about where kids can and can't go. But you can't very well say that, can you?

"Screw this!" shouts the more nervous one finally. "Let's just-"

"No!" snaps the other, his eyes locked on her yungoos. "Come on, it can't keep going forever!"

"So what?" Bonnibel points out. "I've got a full team of pokemon. Beating one isn't the same as beating me." She watches them fight to keep despair from their faces. Like she'd expect, they're well-practiced in failing.

"It's true!" Lillie shouts. "She, Bonnibel's caught lots of pokemon already. Um, so you can just give up and stop this! You're not going to win anyway, so you might as - "

It's the perfect thing to say and Bonnibel flashes her a grateful smile as the less nervous one screams, "SHUT UP!" He's shaking a little now too, but it's not fear. "You don't tell me what to do! Come on, Zubat! Chew it to pieces already!"

Lillie stammers miserable denials behind Bonnibel that no one listens to.

In the center, her opponent's pokemon are getting sick of listening as well. The zubat tries another attempt at supersonic, but Bonnibel sees the open gape and shouts an order to interrupt and move her yungoos from the target area - without that precision, it's no more than a moment of vertigo, a sudden dread welling in the bones, a taste like if the sound of cracking ice could bleed black and green down the back of your throat.

It's still disorienting and unpleasant if you aren't familiar with it, and she hasn't done much training of her pokemon yet either, so even without the aid of real confusion, when Bonnibel snaps, "Close your eyes!" her yungoos doesn't react in time and stares just too long at the drowzee, who's also fallen back on defensive behavior.

She doesn't need to recall the yungoos. There's a gulf between asleep and unconscious that's mostly marked by if anything looks broken, and coddling pokemon is just setting up false expectations that'll be dashed later. But she suspects the kids would take anything resembling a win instead of continuing long enough for the yungoos to awaken and return to fighting, so, "Return. Go!" and out comes Popplio.

The bite marks on his tail have sealed up with just a tracery of discoloration left as evidence. And she doesn't need him to move about. A few blasts of water and Bonnibel is the victor.

"For real?!" the kid howls.

"Let's get up out of this port, homie! Nobody has to know about this!"

They bolt, and the sixteen year old makes no move to follow them. "How terrifying…" he repeats, shaking his head with disdain. "My thanks to you and your pokemon. I must admit, I've been wondering about you since I saw you last night. Such a new trainer, but you seem to fight so effortlessly." He nods. "Very well then! Your pokemon are tired now, but I'd like to see if you're worthy of attempting my trial. My home is in the southeast of the city. Come by after your pokemon have rested."

"Thanks," Bonnibel says, and then yawns as widely as her bones allow. She can feel the tightness of her skin as she does so. Like the zubat, spending too much time under the sun has consequences. "But I'm afraid I'm still jetlagged and I was up all night, so I think it's bedtime for me. Could I come by around dusk?"

"Of course." He nods to Hau. "And you? How are your pokemon?"

"They're great," Hau says, seeming to only grasp why he's being asked this midway through the response. There's a half breath of silence and then Hau keeps going in the only direction he can. "We're all ready for the trial! We just finished fueling up at the malasada place!"

"Glad to hear it! Shall we be off to the cavern, then?"

Hau nods, giving his best look of determination. "See you later!"

"Bye!"

"Good luck!" Bonnibel says. Because that's what things will come down to. She turns to Lillie. "Why don't we walk back to the pokecenter near Professor Kukui's place? I can get a room, and you should be able to get back okay from there, right?"

"Oh, yes! Thank you. But, um, you're not going back home?"

Bonnibel shakes her head. "A pokemon journey is about being on your own, seeing new places and people, isn't it? Going home now when I've barely left wouldn't be doing it right."

"I hadn't thought of that."

She considers, and decides to offer something. "And also, well, Mom didn't want me going out in the middle of the day like this. She's always worried I'll get a sunburn, you know? So showing up midday would just stress her out." Now Lillie has another secret to keep for her.

"Oh," Lillie says, then her eyes glance skyward and she says, "Oh! Are you okay?"

That's precisely why Bonnibel had stopped short of saying she was already sunburned. "Oh, it's fine," she says. "It's just, Mom worries. You know how it is." Or doesn't, but Bonnibel's not sure how Lillie might react to direct questions about where her mom is and why Lillie's living with Kukui, so she'll hold off poking that wound until she has a better idea how hard she can press. "But there is something…" She digs in her bag and pulls out the decorative plate. "Can you drop this off with Professor Kukui, to give to my mother later?"

"Of course!" Lillie says, cradling it like it's not some easily-replaceable tourist junk. "You really care about your mom, don't you?"

"Well yeah," Bonnibel says. "She's my mom." If Bonnibel didn't love Bonnibel's mother, she wouldn't really be Bonnibel at all.

Bonnibel walks her back to the pokecenter then waves as Lillie heads off, making her way toward Kukui's place with something in the ballpark of confidence. Once she's out of sight, Bonnibel heads back into the city. It's time to get some supplies.

Makeup is the most important one, because she'll need it to be able to be out at all soon. The store is helpfully lotion-heavy, which will help keep peeling skin stuck down until it's loose enough to pull off entirely, but, as she suspected, even the lightest liquid bandage brands sold will look like a dark scar. When she takes the pile of makeup to the counter, the woman leans in and examines her. "Oh my," she says, and tsks in a teasing manner. "Bit too much sun? You'll look red tomorrow."

"Yeah," Bonnibel admits. "I was told to avoid being out at midday, but there was just so much to do! I guess the sunscreen just can't keep up. I wouldn't want to look bad next morning!"

The woman nods. "If you're staying a while, you should try developing a tan first. Sunscreen alone can't stand up to our sun."

"Oh, there's no hope for me there," Bonnibel says cheerfully. "I just don't tan at all. I take after my dad that way." It's really quite inconvenient at times, but it's part of the whole Bonnibel package.

"Really? And you don't cover up? We have nice selection of clothes to keep the sun off, very light and cool."

She shakes her head. "Life's too long to spend it all in pants and big hats," Bonnibel says, and the woman laughs. "I'll just be more careful."

Bonnibel stops to get a tall cone of soft serve ice cream bright with neon pink and blue. She takes a bite and tastes the same chemical cocktail of artificial vanilla and artificial berry as back in Kanto. Then it's time to go to the pokecenter. It really is awkwardly close to her mother's house...She'd much prefer the one on the western side, or the one she went by on her way north, but if Lillie comes back or tells someone else, it'd be hard to explain why she's not there.

The accommodations are...cluttered, mostly. Smaller than average, no doubt to accommodate all the visiting trainers, but it's compounded by trying to pack as much Alola into the space as possible, with huge paintings on each of the small walls and little shelves to hold shells and figurines.

It reminds her of the fence.

She'll stay outside for the most part, she thinks. The climate's lovely, and if she's chasing wild pokemon for the pokedex she'll need to be out a lot, and anyway Bonnibel loves Alola so much she wants to experience as much of it as she can.

She sets down the soft ice cream she bought and pours food into bowls on the floor for her pokemon.

Although the rattata is tense and ready to spring, the yungoos is slumped, her head turned to one side deferentially.

The rattata squeaks, " **Ha! Scared?!** "

" **Can you…** " The yungoos is quiet for a bit, then makes more tiny sounds, " **...why are rattata here?** "

The rattata hisses, " **You wanna start something after all?** "

" **No! No - I - I really mean it. I'm really asking. The humans, ours and that other one, they were talking about us, and, and I'd never heard anybody say it that way before. And well that means what gumshoos say and what raticate say don't have to be the same either.** "

" **Well how would I know I don't talk to gumshoos.** "

" **I don't wanna fight okay…** "

" **Well who cares what you want!**

Popplio honks, clearly distressed, " **Please don't be mad! Will you tell me? I want to know!** "

It doesn't seem likely to erupt into more annoying violence, so Bonnibel sits on the bed with her back against the wall and smooths moisturizer carefully into her stiffening skin. If she's lucky, it won't fray and peel enough to be noticeable.

The rattata hisses, " **Our story is, there were boats. Some of us got picked up and put on the boats and some of us snuck onto the boats, because we were fast and clever and tough, and one day there were boats that came here. The humans said, 'We got here, so it's ours!' and we were right there already. That's it that's all and that's all it has to be.** "

The pikipek flutters and cheeps, " **That doesn't make it yours! We were already here!** "

" **Yeah and were you the only one? If it's whoever's first then I bet all of you don't have any more right to be here, and if it's not then you haven't got any more right than us. We came on the same boats as the humans did, we were in the water before them and on the sand before them, and nobody says they stole it from anybody, so how could we have stolen anything? And we aren't even the same as the ones who live other places but I've heard humans say you dummies look just like all the other pictures everywhere so maybe it's you who don't belong and should go back.** " The rattata huffs. " **So then we're here and we're not doing anything wrong and it's great, and then some new thing comes off a boat and the new things start running about killing everybody. But we're fast and clever and tough and we learn how to hide from them and how to find them when they're sleeping and kill them back, while the rest of you stupids just get eaten a whole lot.** "

The yungoos began to chitter, " **The story I heard was-** "

" **Nobody asked you!** "

" **-we came from somewhere bad, somewhere some years you could walk for forever and not see a speck of food, where you'd find old dens empty except for bones. They say the humans said to us that we could have this place, this better place, if we killed the rattata and raticate in return.** "

The rattata squeaks, " **Well you failed so I guess the humans will kick you off again. Cool. I hope they just dump you in the middle of the ocean and you all drown.** "

" **I hope you both all drown,** " the pikipek cheeps. Then they're all quiet.

Bonnibel lies back on the bed. The sheets smell like a parody of the ocean. She sticks out her tongue to touch the pillow case and tastes bitter oils rather than bitter salt.

Is Bonnibel tired? She blinks slowly, and it's not as smooth as it could be, so she closes her eyes. It's been twenty hours since she got up. Bonnibel is tired. Her skin is swollen and tight and going to start to tear soon. And she did get her arm hurt. And she doesn't want to stare at walls or listen to people beyond them. She should sleep. She pulls the pyukumuku plush from her bag and pushes the other pillow aside. Bonnibel presses her face into it. With her sunburnt skin, it feels a little like her cheek is separated from the squishy material by thin paper. She can't pull it off yet, though, so she only sighs and closes her eyes.

She opens her eyes again seven hours later. Popplio lies curled up at her feet and she pats him after sitting up. She packs up leisurely and coats herself in another layer of moisturizer. In the darkness or harsh lighting, her skin doesn't look too different yet, so she doesn't bother with the makeup

Bonnibel takes out her pokedex. She tries the buttons, but the pokedex jumps out of her hands. " **Hey!** Hey! **No need** no **for** need **that!** For that!" So not only is muting out of the question, but she can't even use the rest of the functions quietly.

"Where's the captain's house?"

The speakers make more noise, but there's also a map marking her location and a flag for where she's to go, identifying Ilima's home as set in the southwest corner of the island, right up against the beach.

"That static interference is really annoying," she says. "Are you broken?"

" **It's my** it's **real** my **voice!** Real **the** voice! **Translation** the **has a** translation **delay**. Has a delay."

"It's really annoying," she repeats. "Can you do anything to clean it up so there isn't static mixed in?"

The pokedex is silent for a beat, then there's a burst of static, " **How about this? I can finish speaking before the translation runs.** " A second later, words come from the speakers: "How about this? I can finish speaking before the translation runs."

"That's a lot better," Bonnibel says, though silence would be better still. She puts it back in her bag and leaves.

Outside there's a little girl, barely more than a toddler, who's going into hysterics on the beach. She's flushed enough it's visible in the glare of the lights and her voice is wobbly and starting to hiccup. "But it's their b-b-beach!" she wails, tears rolling down her face. "It's theirs!"

"Sorry," the father says in a thick Unovan accent to someone in uniform. "Only too lengthen day."

"No problem," the worker replies in Alolan-accented Unovan. "Tired kids get fussy."

"They're having fun, Tamara, it's okay," her mother tells her.

"They're not! They're noooot!" Her father picks her up and she thrashes about. "They don't wanna get thrown they want to stay! It's their beach! They live here! They don't wanna be in the water! _Why can't they stay on their beach!_ "

"Shhh, shhh," her parents say, walking away with her as she continues to sob. "It's okay. They're happy. They're having fun."

The uniformed person bends and lifts a pyukumuku from the sand. A moment later, it chucks the pokemon away into the deep water.

Bonnibel keeps walking.

The building she comes to is enormous, though it's hard to know quite where it begins and ends. A thick hedge blocking it off from the rest of the city makes estimating difficult from outside, and once she's walked through the gate it's too big to see the whole thing. A chunk of land to Bonnibel's right is given over to an enormous pool with huge lights illuminating it.

A smeargle - a pokemon is sitting on the edge, kicking her feet and sending droplets everywhere, her tail well away from the water. Further in is a gumshoos jetting back and forth.

"Ah, Bonnibel! There you are!" Ilima says, sounding happy. He gets up from a chair by the side of the pool.

"Your gumshoos is active in the dark?" she says. "I thought they couldn't be kept awake."

He grins, clearly proud of himself. "I keep two. By being careful about their light exposure, I can have one for daytime and one for night." He turns to the pokemon in the pool. "Alright guys! Time to get out of the water!" He turns back and says, "This is more of a formality. Your ability was clear earlier, but usually captains spend more time getting to know prospective challengers before allowing them to take a trial. And to be honest I'd like to see you try your hand against mine, win or lose. It's not the battle results that interest me. Rather, it's the carefully-thought-out strategies or novel tactics employed by trainers. How those plans affect one's opponent and influence the outcome of battles—that is where my interest lies!"

Win or lose… Hala had been quite adamant that there were no gym leaders in Alola. So likely, winning isn't necessary to move on. But in that case, perhaps winning isn't enough to move on to the trial either, so she should take care to make a good impression with all of the captains until she learns otherwise.

After all...it's bothersome already, how small of a place this is. If she has to stay extra long, it'll be harder for Bonnibel to enjoy herself.

Two pokemon only, she decides. Perhaps he'd be more entertained to see her juggle the weaker ones into something useful, but he's already agreed to the trial. And it seems Kukui is the odd one out for having many, so...better not to make a point of it. Bonnibel was only bluffing about her team, perhaps.

She doesn't win. Not two on two, especially not with one of his pokemon a wildcard when she's not really patient the way she should be. She could try to draw out the smeargle, get a feel for the moves known and the kind Ilima will use.

But they're such uncomfortable creatures. A faint possibility of possibility. A slender hope that may be false. And that's really so much worse than "never", isn't it? If it's possible, how terrible to go unrealized. If it's not, how horrible to have reached out in hope and failed.

It's not a choice she's ever had to make.

Popplio collapses, the only movement left in him ragged breathing with the occasional seize of paralysis.

There's some disappointment on his face when she doesn't send out the next, so perhaps Kukui isn't the only one around to be more in step with the standard way of doing this. Odd he doesn't have more himself in that case... She could ask if he wants to continue the fight past an equal match, continue playing, but she'd rather be done with it and she doesn't need to impress him.

"You - or should I say you and your pokemon - make quite the interesting team!" he tells her. "I do hope you'll come to Verdant Cavern and attempt the trial - the trial of Ilima! "

"How about tomorrow?" Bonnibel says.

"So soon!" he says, but he's smiling, happy.

"I've never done a trial before!" she gushes back. "I don't want to have to wait any longer than I have to."

He nods. "Come by my house in the morning then, and I'll take you there."

And then, there's not much to do but hunt for more pokemon.

She leaves Popplio and the rattata at the pokecenter. The beaches? They're still lit up and manned lifeguard towers stud the sand, but there are fewer people in the water. Fewer than a horde is still quite a lot, though. Better to wait for the crowd to disperse further.

And Bonnibel did say she was interested in a pichu, and both Hau and the pokedex data suggest one will take a bit of time to find. Now, are they better found over in Iki Town or here? Maybe there's too many people in the city, but there's certainly more electricity here, and pichu are small and quiet, easy to misjudge as rarer than they are.

There's a police officer not too far off. She heads over to impose on him.

"Excuse me," she says, "but is it true there are pichu who live here, in the city?"

"Why yes, little lady!" he tells her. "Quite a few in fact. Here in Alola, we're proud to live together with pokemon, and that's why we have so many patches of tall grass right here in the city." He gestures at the same grass they took a shortcut through earlier. So that's purposeful? "Young Ilima and his smeargle are always working hard to keep the gates around the grass looking tip-top, as well. Captains should be responsible types, after all!"

"Oh, so the bright red gate is so everyone knows what it is. Pokemon stay behind the fence, and people can avoid it if they don't want to deal with pokemon. What a clever way of doing things," Bonnibel tells him. "Alola sure is an interesting place."

She wonders what'll happen first, the wrong someone going in or going out? She'd guess a little kid going in all complacency and overconfidence, that's usually how people relearn why this isn't done, but that yungoos running toward a battle, that abra who hissed instead of fleeing like the other did...pokemon around here seem to make a lot of mistakes.

Well. They'll learn.

She drops off her popplio and rattata at the pokecenter and gets out the wingull and, just in case, the grimer. She stops and gets a steamed bun from a food stand, an enormous thing that takes two hands to hold and turns out to be stuffed with sweetened pidgey meat, and she heads into the grass.

She was expecting something of a challenge, but all she has to do is sit quietly while she eats her way through yeasty dough, tender muscle and just enough gristle to be satisfying to chew. Pichu are tiny and stealthy, but they're also young and stupid and evidently commoner here than people realize. The pichu screams when she orders her caterpie to bind the pokemon up with string shot, and she ends up getting a pikachu as well. Older apparently isn't wiser.

Then she leaves for another patch.

It's down an alley, power lines overhead, and when nothing appears she begins to poke her way methodically through the grass and bushes, because this is exactly the kind of place electric types like and she can hear the hum even if she can't zero in on it. Some rattata hiss at her but are easily battered into fleeing, and then near the back, she finds a shiny metal ball pressed against the duller metal of an air conditioner. They break out of the pokeball, squealing like a train going around too sharp of a bend, " **What? What? Just leave me alone! I don't want anything to do with trainers!** "

They turn out to be a terrible fighter. She uses the grimer, who spends the battle glorping at the magnemite, " **Sorry. Sorry,** " but follows orders passably. The metal bends under the grimer's bites, then gives way. Her second pokeball holds.

In the next patch, the meowth she finds hisses, " **What do you want, tourist?** " and does his level best to look down his nose at someone three times his height. " **I'm not for the likes of you.** "

Now, is this something Bonnibel's mother would want? He might be a bit of a brat, and perhaps a lot of a bully toward her mother's meowth… She'll have to see if someone can tell her if they get along. A shame Kukui couldn't just send one over before now so she'd have time to get them situated.

Well, maybe she'll come across a more tractable one later. She has plenty of pokeballs.

He's furious at the battle and she can easily guess he'll be more furious by an attempted capture, so she keeps going, alternating between her caterpie to tangle him and her pikipek to attack, until he's a bloody wreck on the ground. He glowers up at her, whatever he draws his self-importance from unharmed by the beating. Good? Probably good. Madness, maybe, but whatever works for him.

When the pokedex does its song and dance, she asks for the information. The rotom begins to spit static, " **The meowth in Alola are distinct for their cunning and their great pride. Two things they really hate—a wound to their pride and dirt on their coins. If either one happens, they fly into hysterics!** "

The static fades away. A second passes, and then from the speakers, "The meowth in Alola are distinct for their cunning and their great pride. Two things they really hate—a wound to their pride and dirt on their coins. If either one happens, they fly into hysterics!"

More static, " **Meowth is a pokemon that did not originally live in the Alola region. They were sent to the royal line as an offering from another region, and only a select few could have them as partners.** "

Another pause, then, "Meowth is a pokemon that did not originally live in the Alola region. They were sent to the royal line as an offering from another region, and only a select few could have them as partners."

Static, " **It's said that the meowth that were offered to the royal family lived a life of luxury and pampering, which led them to have a selfish and prideful attitude. This caused meowth's form to change,** " then now only a half second off, "It's said that the meowth that were offered to the royal family lived a life of luxury and pampering, which led them to have a selfish and prideful attitude. This caused meowth's form to change.

" **The once-rare Alolan meowth became feral when the monarchy was destroyed, and they have now become regular pokemon, seen as commonly in the Alola region as elsewhere,** " static is followed almost smoothly now by, "The once-rare Alolan meowth became feral when the monarchy was destroyed, and they have now become regular pokemon, seen as commonly in the Alola region as elsewhere."

So that's why.

She could almost - but Bonnibel is in the city with a chatty camera floating in front of her face.

"Are you able to tell Professor Kukui about the pokemon I catch?" she asks them. "Or do I have to call him?"

" **I'm not that kind of wireless! I can use the phone lines at a pokecenter, though.** I'm not that kind of wireless! I can use the phone lines at a pokecenter, though."

So she'll just smash it if anything goes wrong. That's a relief.

A rockruff pokes her head out of a distant bush. Even after the screams, even with the blood on the ground, she has a hopeful look in her eyes, because that means a trainer means a person. How sad. Bonnibel holds out her hand. "Hey, girl," she coos. "Want scritches?"

The rockruff barks, " **You want me?** " and her upright tail moves hesitantly from one side to the other, then she bounds forward.

Bonnibel runs her nails between the fur on the rockruff's head, then around the neck studded with rough stone. The rockruff whines, " **Love you,** " and pushes against her fingers.

She thinks of science classes doing the lesson on the hardness scale of rocks. But a teacher had said, it'd corrected a student saying diamonds were strong, because hardness and strength weren't the same. It'd talked about the fable of the tree and the reeds, about purity and fractures and cleavage, and then it'd shown everyone the jade pendant it wore, carved into the shape of a dragonair. Many things easily scratch soft jade, but this pendant was an old heirloom that had survived many bumps and drops while trying to carve a diamond into such a shape would break it to bits. The pleasant thought of a dragonair cracking apart had stuck in her memory.

Bonnibel cups the rockruff's head with fingers splayed over the studs of rocks. She feels them scratch against her skin and she wonders if they're the kind that can only crumble. One hand pulls away, takes a pokeball from the bag, presses the button to the rockruff's forehead.

Maybe she'll send this one to her mother instead of a meowth. But…no, not yet. Not without giving the pokemon a chance. It wouldn't be murder, because you can't murder a pokemon, but… She'll see if the rockruff might be capable of something else, of lasting longer. An heirloom, rather than something to be buried in the same grave.

Bonnibel takes the pikachu and magnemite with her when she heads out again.

The pikachu squeaks angrily, " **I hate you,** " and glowers at her, but he's shivering all over at his own audacity. He'd grow more confident over time, and more troublesome, but she has no plan to keep him that long. The magnemite just floats quietly. When she says they're going to the beach to look for pokemon, they buzz, " **Better than having to do real battles, I guess...** "

Popplio, despite being still worn from the earlier battle, is all enthusiastic barks, " **This will be fun!** " He nudges the pikachu, who shocks him.

"Bad!" Bonnibel snaps. "Bad!" The pikachu freezes up, but she wants to be sure. "If you can't behave, I'll put you away and use my pichu instead."

" **You caught - but you caught me, you didn't need to catch - !** " the pikachu squeaks.

The pokedex flies out of her bag yet again. " **Bonnibel here is collecting data for the great Professor Kukui!** Bonnibel here is collecting data for the great Professor Kukui!" Popplio nods timidly.

The pikachu's cheeks spark. But he looks from the pokedex to Bonnibel's serene smile, and the sparks fade again. " **You're a pokemon, aren't you? You're even worse than the human. I hope you're torn to bits,** " the pikachu squeaks. " **I hope you scream and scream and no one cares. I hope you die knowing it's what everyone wanted.** "

These Melemele pokemon are so dumb.

" **That's not very nice!** That's not very nice!"

The magnemite hums sourly, " **Well you're not very nice.** "

Bonnibel recalls them except for Popplio, who she puts on her bag again.

" **I wish people weren't so mad all the time,** " he hums softly. " **Why can't we all be friends?** "

She pats him and heads for a food truck. This one sells chunks of raw ocean pokemon, covered in some sort of marinade. There's various options: finneon, pyukumuku, slowpoke, shellder... Bonnibel decides on the deluxe bowl, containing cubes of all twenty species offered. She's told to have fun eating it with her family and she nods agreeably.

There's still people at the beach, but they're mostly near the entrances. Much better.

She walks along the sand. A pyukumuku is making his way out of the surf, paying her no mind. She drops a pokeball on his back, then keeps going a ways further, until she reaches the rocky boundary of the beach. She clambers onto the rocks and heads out.

Popplio swims along, barking occasionally, " **That looks really slippery! Don't worry I'll help if you fall!** "

She won't - she's surefooted, even balancing the huge bowl of food. She could run down the rocks as fast as Popplio could swim if she had any reason to. But she doesn't, so she walks it calmly, keeping an eye out for pokemon lurking in the crevices. Her attention is rewarded with a mangled staryu, the light of their core so weak it's barely visible even in the night. She bends over, sticking a hand under the waves to press the pokeball against the flesh of their one remaining arm.

When she's a good distance from the beach and the few remaining swimmers, Bonnibel sits down and begins to eat. The soft fish chunks split apart along the grain of the muscle when she presses them to the roof of her mouth, while the shellder is slippery and a bit chewier. Lapras is chewiest, even more than the slowpoke, requiring several minutes to grind the firm, springy blocks apart between her molars. It's also drier than it should be and a touch rancid. It must not move very quickly compared to the rest. The black cubes that must be pyukumuku taste only of marinade and gelatin, and they squish apart as easily.

She rolls a second black cube gently around in her mouth. The texture is...is that what they feel like? Maybe she'll keep the one she caught around. It's nice, even nicer than the stuffed toy version she bought.

"Popplio," she says around the pyukumuku chunk, "what pokemon are around? Can you get one to chase you over here?"

" **Okay!** "

She lets the pikachu out. "Popplio is searching for pokemon. When one comes back, your job will to to attack them. Control the electricity's path so it doesn't hurt Popplio when you do so. If you can't work together on my team, I'll find somebody else instead."

The pikachu squeaks sullenly, " **And if I do then you won't need a backup anymore…?** "

The pikachu behaves well enough. He electrocutes a finneon and tentacool, then she orders Popplio to try the water on the other side, which is a wider area with fewer swimmers. There, Popplio comes back with a magikarp in his mouth, glowing with pride, then enrages a swarm of wishiwashi when he tries to repeat his success.

Bonnibel gets soaked in the process, but she'd already finished her food so no real damage was done. She recalls her battered pikachu and finishes the wishiwashi off with the magnemite.  
" **Twenty pokemon now!** Twenty pokemon now!" shouts the pokedex.

She picks up Popplio, who's quivering, and examines him. "You shouldn't try to battle on your own," she tells him. "One day when I decide you've had enough training and experience, I might tell you to go out on your own. But it's not something you should decide to do. We have to work as a team." It looks like his only major injury comes from when the wishiwashi's waves smashed him against the rocks, so she sends him back out.

He comes back, honking with obvious distress. " **The corsola stay on the bottom and the luvdisc are so fast and the slowpoke ignore me.** "

"Can't find anything else?" Bonnibel asks.

" **I could lead you to them!** " He swims out and back a few times, looking at her.

"Oh well," she says, and holds out his pokeball. "Return."

She can feel the paradoxical astringency of the saltwater seeping into the tiny rips and tears in her skin, the stiffness around the bite in her arm, and she needs to be presentable tomorrow morning. Better to head back to the beach.

A gyarados swims near to the rocks, but she doesn't raise so much as a fin about the water, and she soon swims away again. Seems island pokemon can figure things out after all.

Bonnibel jumps down onto the sand, feeling the fine grains twist and give under her feet.

It's those fences that are bugging her. She'd be fine staying here, sitting and staring into the sky, letting time pass, but the knowledge she can't leave won't stop prickling against her skin.

And it's dark now, but - patience over risk. She only has to do one thing and then she won't have to deal with this irritant ever again.

She steps back onto concrete and then into a small store. Behind the counter are steaming leaf-wrapped balls of what smells like tauros meat, nearly as big as her head. She buys one.

She went straight north before, she thinks, peeling back the leaves and taking a lick of the tauros underneath. The outside tastes largely of oozing fat, collagen from the hide, and the salt rub, which is almost tart from what she'd guess are charcoal impurities. She digs her teeth into the roast shoulder and pulls a good chunk loose. She chews it, enjoying the mixed textures of the crispy exterior cracking apart under pressure and the rubbery spring of the moister skin underneath, as she ponders what's next. Maybe she'll check out the western area, explore that branch in the road she saw. Not too far, though...she'll only end up back at Iki Town or another fence, and spaces feel a little less small if you keep yourself from smacking into their walls.

A drowzee rears up aggressively from the tall grass with a honk, " **Hey, get out of-** ". Nearly as quickly, the pokemon gets a better sense of Bonnibel and withdraws right back into the underbrush.

She's about halfway through, working on a bit of tendon, when Bonnibel's mouth is finished chewing but her throat won't let the mouthful down. Then her stomach contracts sharply and she pours everything she's eaten into the grass. She bites off another chunk of the roast tauros and continues, replacing the tart burning with grease and iron.

As she heads down the bend, she hears a machamp shouting, " **I'm sorry.** " He keeps shouting every couple seconds, getting louder and louder as she approaches.

She finds a cemetery, one not marked on the map she saw. A woman in the machamp's arms, held like a lifeline, is shushing him to little effect. He yells yet again, " **I'm sorry.** "

Well. He'll be quiet soon. He may have the strength in his arms to carry her effortlessly, but he's rotting in the center.

When she walks closer, the woman says, "Oh! Hello, young trainer. I'm sorry for all of this one's noise." Strangely, the machamp is wearing gloves, long ones that go so far up his arms that not an inch of skin is touching the woman directly.

"Oh, it's fine," Bonnibel says. "Why's he shouting? He sounds cranky." And the woman launches into the only story there ever is for faith evolutions.

"But my husband sent Machamp back into its ball at the moment of the crash," she continues, as oblivious to how pointless a gesture it was as her husband must've been. "It was a miracle that Machamp survived. But my husband… Well, ever since the accident, Machamp here has hated being inside a pokeball. In fact it flung its own ball off somewhere. Now this silly one insists on coming out here in the middle of the night."

Bonnibel could ask how her husband came to have a machamp, whether he got him fully evolved or traded for a machoke or, perhaps most traditionally, raised and then traded back and forth to get the final stage. The woman would tell her, because none of those are anything to be ashamed of.

For the same reason, there's no point in asking, and the woman is more interested in chattering away about her own feelings on the other man who caused the deaths. When she's done, she apologizes for rambling and pats the machamp yet again, telling him they really need to get home, and he obeys.

It's not sad, really...this is the only thing that could have happened. The only way for pokemon of faith to survive is to be already dead.

Speaking of...at least one of those is lurking around. It's colder, and the shadows are all off-center. Is the gengar's former trainer buried here as well? Some people do their best to get rid of the body, put it to sea or burn it to ashes or let flying pokemon take the pieces far and wide, but others rather like the idea of a cemetery guardian.

All that actually appear, however, are gastly.

She's already caught plenty of pokemon. But...Bonnibel...Bonnibel likes all sorts of pokemon, her mom says, and that includes ghosts, so...yes, Bonnibel is excited at the chance to catch a ghost. To watch energy ripping at the shreds of it, carving away all that's left.

Oops! It's gone. She'll have to try again.

She shoos away a drifloon and continues to hunt. Bonnibel only loves the gastly line, she decides. They are her very favorite ghosts. Perhaps, because they're so very beloved by her, she'll want to make sure to catch just the right one.

She spies a bit of wood with a face poking out and revises that: phantump are also Bonnibel's very favorites, now that she thinks about it. A shame they're so hard to find.

The phantump screams more than the gastly, but it's to no more avail. What does it matter, if no one cares when you scream or if they do? No one can actually do anything about it.

She's quite a ways into the cemetery when the temperature drops another half a degree. Bonnibel sticks out her arms like she's welcoming a breeze, spreads her fingers wide. "Ah, that's nice. Such perfect weather to chase pokemon in. Maybe I'll stay out all night since it's so wonderful here! Oh, but that might not be long enough. I should come back. Again, and again, and again!"

Someone else might say the ground under her feet twists, but she knows the ground under her feet far too well to care about a swirl of darkness and teeth that's only layered thinly on top.

It's a tough battle, but it's not a battle whose outcome is ever in question. Even had the gengar beaten all her pokemon rather than most, Bonnibel could've chucked rocks or whatever. She doesn't like the idea of having to be involved beyond shouting orders, but that doesn't mean she won't do it. People prefer to use pokemon, but they'll make an exception if they particularly want to catch something, and it won't be against the rules because wild pokemon don't get rules.

Bonnibel's hands stay clean, though. The gengar spends most of the battle struggling with paralysis, and it's really more a matter of her other pokemon lasting long enough for her to get lucky with a pokeball. Her new rockruff is still standing by the end, so Bonnibel doesn't need to dig around in the soil herself.

Had it ever been paralyzed, back before? Did it understand, when it first pulled itself together, when thought and substance met and became a whole, that it would only be a pokemon now? Did it think it was something special, that all the others had been just pokemon but it, no, it was different, it was different and things would be different and people would care because it was still a person too?

Bonnibel rolls the pokeball in her hand, smiling to herself. She suspects none of them ever quite learn the lesson. If they did, there wouldn't be gengar, because there wouldn't be such a thing as betrayal.

To scream? That's only how things are. She knows a better curse than some dumb pikachu. "I hope you never stop expecting more," she tells the pokeball, because drowning is no less than they deserve.

Then she sticks it in her bag and picks up the panting rockruff. "That gengar was very scary, wasn't it? But you did what you were told."

The rockruff wiggles, tail thrashing, and barks madly, " **Yes! Yes! You're wonderful I love you do you love me?** "

"It's said," Bonnibel tells her, "that unlike pokemon, people have immortal souls that go to another place after the person dies. And sometimes, those souls return to this place instead, as ghost pokemon. Do you think that's true? Do you think gastly used to be people?"

" **No! I think they're liars!** " the rockruff growls, shaking her head wildly and showing the most spine Bonnibel's seen from her. " **They just make it up to say they're better than us!** "

There's the sound of wind whistling through grass, " **It's the truth…** "

"Oh hey, look, another one!" Bonnibel says. "Go, Rockruff! Get it!"

She doesn't keep looking after that, though, not with only one pokemon still capable of fighting. She sits down with her back to a stone and stares up at the darkness of the moon.

Another time in another graveyard. Someone lying in the grass, lush there rather than the spiky dry stuff here. _"Do you ever feel like...like you just want to just lie down and never get up again?"_ it'd asked. Because that was a thing people felt and did. To stop, to die, to hurt, to starve… The sort of choices only made by someone spoiled by choice.

Bonnibel sits because she wants to sit, and she looks at the stars because she wants to look at the stars, and she'll get up because she wants to get up and she'll eat because she wants to eat and she'll go because she wants to go.

What Bonnibel also wants to do is introduce Popplio and the rockruff.

They're both tired, but they're also young, so they play a little together, bouncing and wrestling before lying down on the grass, and she gives them each a berry from the bag the man gave her.

Somewhere off in the trees, a butterfree is chattering. " **Yes, it was different, in days before. Back before there were traps in every hand. They treated us-** "

"Do you know, there's a story I heard sometime," Bonnibel announces, her voice booming out into the darkness. "Heard lots of times, really, can't even remember the first time. Would you guys like to hear the story?"

They bark and nod their heads, of course.

"Okay, so the story goes: There are children born into cities, because there's nowhere else for them to be born. Like mold covering a berry. Clear off a bit and all that's left is empty rot and dying sand and your own bones sobbing - and, well. What a waste of time that'd be. Because there are cities, there are never not cities, because the cities, they aren't really things. They're made of an undying song. The song sings itself, over and over. 'Oh,' say the children, hearing it for the first time. 'Surely the next verse will be different.' The children hold their breath, waiting for it to change, but the second and the third are all the same, and now they've turned blue. 'But surely it can't have always been the same,' they tell each other. 'If we keep listening, it'll be different. It must. It can't be the same forever.' And the fourth and the fifth are all the same. And the sixth and seventh are all the same. 'Long ago when my ears were new, I'm sure I heard different words. Soon, we'll all hear them again.' And then every time they hear another verse, they sob and wail in surprise that the words are the same ones they've always been. 'Maybe if we shout loudly, we'll hear different words. Maybe if we're very quiet, we'll hear different words. Maybe if we go to another city made of the same song, we'll hear different words.' Aren't they such silly children, with the new tears falling from their eyes each time the same old thing happens? Aren't they such silly parents, to tell their children lies that will only make them cry too?"

There's quiet.

The rockruff looks anxious, not sure how to respond. Popplio barks, " **I...I don't think I understand, exactly. But I don't think there's such a thing as a song singing itself. I think there's always a singer. I think anybody can choose what they want to sing.** "

"Yeah, it _is_ just like how we met, isn't it, my little popplio?" she agrees. "You were never going to say no, to me or anybody else, and neither were any of the others. And all the ones before you, and the all ones after you, all the nameless children say yes yes yes yes yes to these strangers they've never met before. That's just the way things happen. I guess sometimes people can be silly too, huh? Bothering to ask when they've given you only one answer. Pretending there's any other words that could be."

The sound Popplio makes is not quite a bark, but perhaps the sound of one dying somewhere in his mouth, " **I - but I - !** "

"It's different for people, though," Bonnibel says, and she strokes their heads in apology. "You see, when people are silly and tell lies, it makes them happy, but lies only make pokemon cry."

When the sky's too light to make out stars any longer, she stands and heads back south, coating her face and arms with the makeup as she goes.

It's still the early part of early morning, so she heads back to the mall to see if the buffet has different foods on offer. Some of it's the same, but there's thick, well-done tauros steaks that taste of burnt wood and pinap berries, wingull and eggant chili so astringent her nose tingles just from steam, some icecream done up to look like a vanillite in Unovan style but getting the rich undertaste from snorunt instead, and a spicy salad heavy on sliced rindo with a bit of minced finneon mixed in.

It's brighter out when she finishes eating. Properly morning. She heads to the door, passing a pair of chatting women. "I heard those Team Skull thugs keep trying to sneak into the trial site to steal pokemon to sell...and that they fail every single time!"

"Those numskulls," agrees her friend. "Wasn't failing the trials the first time around enough? They're so embarrassing! Kahuna Hala should knock their heads together until they see sense."

Bonnibel heads south, walks through the hedges and knocks on the door. A man in a blue and yellow shirt ushers her in. "Hello there! You must be one of Ilima's friends? Come on in! Any friend to my son is a friend to me!" As she walks through the doorway, he leans over a little. "Just one thing, though. I'd like to hear what you think of my boy. Is he doing a good job as a captain? Our Ilima has just always been obsessed with pokemon battling, ever since he was a boy. He's like a different person when he battles-you can see it in his eyes! I've always been a little worried about whether he would do all right as a captain."

"Well, I've only just gotten here," Bonnibel says, "but everyone seems very happy with the job he's doing! And yesterday some hoodlums showed up and gave Hau a real fright, but as soon as Captain Ilima arrived, he was so relieved, because he knew it meant he wouldn't have to fight them himself."

And if that's not something Hau's grandfather will be happy about when it gets back to him, well, how could Bonnibel have known?

The place is as opulent inside as the outside suggested, and they pass servants in the hall. They look barely different from the man.

She ends up in a dining room. In the corner is a bowl on the floor for their pet drifloon, half-full of moist pellets of pokemon chow, and on the table is a bowl of raw berries. The woman there, who is just as interested in hearing her thoughts on Ilima, asks Bonnibel if she'd like any of them.

"No, but thank you," Bonnibel says.

She sits at the table with them as they regale her with stories about Ilima and how he spent several years abroad in Kalos. They don't say much about any gyms, but she can't say if they're intentionally ducking the topic of his likely failures or if their son kept quiet first and left them ignorant.

Ilima is surprised when he comes down the stairs and sees her, and she wonders if perhaps people here have a different idea of what morning is. Good thing she didn't ask for a specific time. Bonnibel is considerate, her mom says, and would just have to wait until then.

Now, she doesn't have to wait at all. Whether or not Ilima would've liked more time before heading out, he certainly doesn't want his parents chatting with other kids about him, so he grabs two large berries off the table and hustles her out over their objections.

"Am I too early?" she asks. "You can stay and have breakfast."

"It's fine," he tells her. It does appear to be. He looks purely excited.

As they trot along, he chatters to her, "We captains are the ones who conduct the trials you will face on your way to challenging the island kahuna. As I'm the only captain on Melemele, my trial, in Verdant Cavern, is the only one you'll face on this island. It'll be very different from what you're used to in Kanto. There's no humans involved, not directly at least. Of course I still train the pokemon involved! That's my responsibility as captain. But I won't be giving orders during your trial. In fact, I'm not supposed to intervene at all. You won't be in actual danger, of course, I'll still be there and ready to step in if I'm needed, but it'll mean your trial is invalidated and you have to try again."

The way he says it reminds her of the girl behind the counter saying, "In the old days…" Did people die sometimes, when they screwed up badly enough? She resolves to find some older Alolans and see if they have nice stories to tell her.

"Note that the pokemon living within Verdant Cavern are quite fierce. I wouldn't venture in unless you've prepared some potions and so forth." He looks at her expectantly.

She could just nod, but, Bonnibel is not only a brand-new trainer but from Kanto, and as everyone's explained, people from Kanto have such great difficulty understanding all of Alola's so very different ways of doing things, so instead she opens up her bag to show off her array of items and ask him earnestly if he thinks she did a good job preparing.

He does.

She'd rather talk about him than Bonnibel, so she tells him his parents mentioned he lived in Kalos and like, wow! Usually Kalos comes to Alola.

"Well, the schools there…" he starts off.

Yeah, the schools there. There are a lot of schools, but she knows the ones he means. As big as his house here is, she'd guess it was barely enough to qualify for a spot at one of them.

"You must be so smart, Captain Ilima," she tells him, and he tells her at length that it's really all about hard work and studying and applying yourself, which leads in to him telling her at greater length the sort of things he learned.

Several drowzee watch from deep in the grass, the one she saw before grunting and grumbling among them, " **...bad news. Never felt anything like it. And it's the same one as's been hunting, sure of it.** "

She'd like to rout them. It's a bad habit for pokemon to cluster like that, makes them easy targets. But Ilima is still prattling on about ideal move use and computer programs, and Bonnibel is too busy hanging on his every fascinating word to stop for a battle.

Ilima trails off at the sight of Hau up ahead, near the pokemon center. He sees them as well and waves, then runs over.

"Howzit, Bonnibel? Your pokemon doing all right?" He looks sincerely happy, so she guesses he managed the trial well enough.

"They're fine," she tells him. "I'm all ready for the trial!"

"You know," he says, "that Verdant Cavern place, right? I guess it's kinda, like, sacred to Tapu Koko. Right, Ilima? You aren't even allowed to go into it unless you're on your island challenge."

Ilima nods. "That's the tradition, although you're allowed in after you've proven yourself, too. And, of course, not everyone respects tradition…"

Hau makes a face. "I heard Tutu say they're asking for trouble! He was saying, if Tapu Koko gets mad, he'll definitely drag those numskulls right out to the center of Iki Town!"

And is that distress hidden in Ilima's eyes?

"Oh! You mean to that platform?" Bonnibel asks. "Will they have to have a pokemon battle like Hau and I had, to make Tapu Koko happy again?"

"Maybe," Ilima squeaks out now that she's put him on the spot. "I, uh, don't know exactly, you'd have to ask the kahuna. But it won't come up anyway, I'm sure. I don't see Tapu Koko getting mad over some kids getting up to petty mischief. I'm sure it understands they don't mean anything by it."

Another thing to mention when she's found some older people. Maybe Bonnibel can repeat Hau's words to them. Maybe they'll find the idea as distasteful as Ilima and go to complain to Hala that he should do no such thing. Maybe they'll find it as delightful as Bonnibel suspects she'll find the real details to be, and they'll go complain that Hala should do it now for the crime of flouting tradition, whether or not Koko cares.

The center of town...not to the ruins. Did they ever? Bonnibel would guess not. Uncatchable Koko, Unenterable Cavern...the type of divisions Alolans use wouldn't allow someone who falls short to be brought anywhere special but only the most public and least restricted of places. Whatever punishment must be a public one as well.

Ilima wrenches the conversation back to the original topic of the trial. She'll have to complete it in one go, he tells her, and furthermore, "Many strong pokemon make their home in the Verdant Cavern, but one stronger and more fearsome than all the rest, known as a totem pokemon, also resides there! It will be the greatest obstacle you face as you attempt to clear my trial!"

"I'm ready. I'll do my very best," Bonnibel promises.

He nods. "Through attempting the trials during the island challenge, one can exceed his or her own limits. ...That is what the Alolan people believe."

She supposes it depends on how low your limits are to start with.

"This is but one of the seven trials you will face during your island challenge," Ilima says, terribly serious, like he believes the number's intimidatingly large. "And it begins now! The trial of Captain Ilima!"

Is a joke. Fight some pokemon who are smugly insulated from trainers most of the time? Oh, they're strong, no doubt there's fierce competition for living in this space, this little mirage-island of false safety, but their skills are honed fighting wild pokemon and not trainers.

She's pleased when a different bunch of scruffy teens interrupt, jumping in through the opening above to tell her they're here to mess with her trial as revenge for her hassling their bros, but they really need to learn to keep their voices down.

"I can do this!" she tells Ilima, pure big-eyed earnestness. "Captain Ilima, if you interfere, then I won't have really done the trial! Even if you say it's okay, I want to do things properly! Please, let me try!"

He refuses to actually leave, but he does relent.

The battles are even less of a challenge than the wild pokemon, but it upsets them so much.

Not enough, though, but now she knows something else she can do. "Why are you guys even here?" Bonnibel demands when the last one's beaten. "Hau says only people doing the island challenge are allowed here! He says his grandfather told him you're going to make Tapu Koko mad, and then the kahuna will have to bring all you guys to Iki Town!"

That scares them. She suspects they may not know the full meaning of it, but it's something they've heard as a threat before now.. "As if!" says a girl. "Old Hala tries to do anything to us, and Mr. Guzma will rip him to pieces!"

"Yeah! Him and Plumeria and the whole gang! Old Hala tries to do anything to anybody, and we'll take Iki Town like we took Po! You don't mess with Team Skull!"

"Hmph," says Ilima behind her. "You guys really are numskulls. The only thing Guzma's good at is blowing smoke. He'd never dare challenge Hala." Hala, not Ilima. No claim of his own prowess?

"Man, we're gonna tell him you said that! And he's gonna destroy you both!"

"Yeah!"

Ilima rolls his eyes but steps aside as they rush out, so perhaps they do have a few members he's concerned about.

"They aren't really any danger, are they?" Bonnibel asks.

Ilima shrugs, uncomfortable. "Not really, but they do pull things like this, where they try to cheat their way to a win through numbers. A big pack of them can cause real trouble." And that sort of thing is only acceptable to do to pokemon, not people.

Humans who aren't quite people, who start to be treated like pokemon, they so often do the same back, and that only reinforces how everyone was right to treat them like that in the first place. How wonderful to get to be in Alola while it's happening.

Ilima apologizes again for how they've ruined her trial, how unfair this is for her, and Bonnibel repeats that it's fine, she can keep going! She'll do it!

And she goes out the other end of the cave, into a hollow with high walls.

There's something about the air, a nearly imperceptible smell or a taste she doesn't recognize. Or does? It seems familiar even as she can't think of any time it reminds her of.

Bonnibel shakes her head. She's forgotten lots of stuff, and this doesn't seem important.

At the center of the hollow is a big golden stand with some crystals. She sticks her hand in and a pokemon jumps down with a snarl, " **Don't think it's that easy!** "

The Alolan version of a raticate. But there's a light to it, radiating out. She can feel the faintest touch of it on her skin and it -

It's some move, she guesses. It's strange, but it's not going to change anything.

And it doesn't. Bonnibel wins, Bonnibel holds out her hand to Ilima with the crystal resting on her open palm, Bonnibel completes the trial.

"What an incredible trainer you are! For you to be able to defeat the totem pokemon that I had trained up to such a powerful state... I don't know what I can say!" Ilima shakes his head, so loudly excited. "Working in harmony with your pokemon, you have cleared the trial of Ilima! You're a phenomenal trainer! Congratulations, Bonnibel!

"Thank you," Bonnibel says politely, just in case the captains have to officially recognize success for it to count.

"What you have just received is the normal z-crystal! It is known as normalium z!"

Known for how long, maybe a hundred years? That seems about when people here would try to fancy up names for their burgeoning tourist industry by adding foreign declensions to existing words.

He waves his arms about, telling her she'll need to strike an elegant pose to channel power through the crystal into her pokemon's move. Is this the sort of thing Hau will be doing?

"The totem pokemon!" Ilima continues. "In every locale where a captain holds his or her trials, you will encounter a particularly strong pokemon, like Raticate just now. And during battles against such pokemon, they may summon allies to shore up their offense. It's not a tactic often seen in other regions. Perhaps pokemon in Alola are simply more inclined to help one another?"

It's easily the most old-fashioned thing about this place, certainly. But they'll learn better eventually.

And not a very long eventually, she'd estimate, as he tells her that, having proved herself worthy, it's perfectly fine for her to come and go catching pokemon here, should she feel like it. That change can't be even a decade old, not with how Hau still thinks of this place as being sacred and only used for the trials themselves.

That's good. It's perverse to have little floating mirages of flotsam and rot pretending to be solid land when there's no such thing as safe ground. The sooner the pokemon here accept that, the better it'll be for them.

"In fact, have some greatballs, as my own gift for completing my trial," Ilima adds. "Stronger pokemon need stronger pokeballs to keep them inside, after all!"

They head outside to find Hau, who foolishly jumps up and down at the news of her victory. "This calls for celebration!" he tells her.

"First, there's something else I need to show you," Ilima says, and he leads her up to the fence. "As you travel around the islands of Alola, you will find captain's barricades here and there.  
These barricades help mark areas where particularly strong pokemon can be found. Anyone can pass through them, of course, if they are escorted by a strong trainer. Those attempting the island challenge can pass the barricades, as long as they clear the trials."

Trials.

One isn't enough.

Well. So the crystal is just about opening the fence, it's not required once you're past. It's been proven Bonnibel's sunscreen isn't enough to protect Bonnibel's skin, so she'll have to avoid daytime hours whenever possible. And if by daytime, she's on the other side, someone evidently let her through, since there's no other way for her to be there.

He has her press her crystal into a slot and the gate opens for her.

"Voila! Your world just got a little bigger."

The smile stays on Bonnibel's face.

And then they all walk back down to the pokecenter and sit in the cafe drinking tangy yet cloying pinap juice. Ilima doesn't seem interested in telling Hau about the interesting things that happened during the trial, which makes Bonnibel very interested in doing so. Hau gets righteously upset on her behalf.

"I'll tell Tutu!" he swears.

"I'm sure that's not necessary," Ilima says. "There was no harm done."

Hau is shaking his head. "They shouldn't even be in the trial area at all, and now they're messing with people's trials? They can't be allowed to get away with that!"

"Well, they didn't succeed in messing anything up. And Bonnibel sent them running with their tails between their legs. I'm sure they've realized now what a mistake it is to go after proper trainers doing their island trials and won't do it again."

"Oh, I hope so," says Bonnibel sweetly. "But...they were talking about some other thug in their gang coming to attack people here, weren't they? What was his name? Guzzy?"

"Guzma!?" Oh, Hau's halfway to as light as Bonnibel is, and Ilima has his hands up and his head is moving back and forth in denial.

"No, no, they're not doing anything like that. It's all empty threats with those kids, and Guzma would never come here anyway. He stays clear of Melemele Island."

"Because Kahuna Hala is the strongest trainer?" Bonnibel asks innocently.

"Yeah…" Ilima lies. Why then? Another thing to ask around about. "But speaking of Hala, we'll need to inform him you've cleared the trial too, Bonnibel! You're both able to challenge the island kahuna now."

Hau laughs. "I don't know if I'd go that far… I've, I've still got a lot of training to do!"

She considers. "He's quite powerful, isn't he? And it'll be a true pokemon battle with a person giving the orders… Are we really ready already, do you think?" Bonnibel says.

Ilima smiles at them. "Oh, Hala won't be coming at you with anything like his full power!" Hau sags slightly under the words. "The kahunas are our greatest trainers, and unlike gym leaders in other places, they don't face so many challengers their pokemon are worn out. Why, nobody would be able to complete the island challenge if it was purely a matter of strength. The battle against a kahuna is known as the island's grand trial, where the kahuna takes your measure and decides on what would be a fair test."

Which means…

Bonnibel grins and grabs Hau's side in excitement. "Oh, I think I get it! Hau and I should do it together, then! Hau, how long do you think we should both train first?"

"Uh...well…"

Ilima knew he'd have to hunt down Hau to get the kid to the trial, so he can be relied on to interject here, "I think in three day's time, you'll be more than ready to give it a shot. How does that sound?"

It sounds well chosen. It's enough of a delay that, "Yeah!" Hau shouts, and pumps his fist in the air, in relief it's been put off at all, but it's a tolerable amount of time for Bonnibel to hang around.

It doesn't seem like they're expected to win, though… Bonnibel would guess many lose but get an idea of what's expected in the first battle, then come back a second time once they think they're ready. And it wouldn't be all that hard for an experienced trainer to up the difficulty again without being obvious about it, stonewall a bit through a third or fourth time.

But if two people are both fought one after another, there's only so much invisible variation even a talented trainer can manage. And if one of those people is Hau, who's looking for excuses to go slow and hold back while his grandfather wants to set him off on an auspicious journey with lots of momentum…

Well. In that case, she's certain she'll be off this island in three days.

"Well," Bonnibel says, and then yawns as widely as her bones allow, "it's been fun hanging out, but I'm still jetlagged, and Mom said not to be out at noon, so I think it's bedtime for me. See you tomorrow?"

"Sure!" Hau says. "Let's all meet up at the pokecenter tomorrow for supper. I know a great place!"

"That sounds wonderful," she tells him.

Bonnibel considers if she should catch anything more. She's curious if Hala's made his peace with what he told her or if prattling on about her newest acquisitions will get some reaction.

And as much as she'd like to be done and on her way in three days...if it happens to get a reaction? If it happens that when he hears it Hala doesn't keep his gloves on? Another day would probably be worth it, to find out how everyone else feels about the grandson breezing through a pushover battle while the new kid who showed him up doesn't get a chance. To find out just how many futile sacrifices Hala's willing to make.


	4. that ate together at the same table

Bonnibel gets a roserade tea from the pokecenter cafe after Hau and Ilima leave and ponders what her next move will be as she sips the sour-sweet water.

They've told her often enough that this is different than gym leaders but it's likely Hala will still have a favored type. Hala moves with a particular deliberation and that tauros was scared. If he fields a mix, it'll still be a fighting-heavy mix.

She does have that gengar. Starting weak and then switching to that one would guarantee a win, but where's the fun in that? Maybe she'll keep it on her but only use it if Hala gets goaded into going all-out against her.

Otherwise...perhaps go back to the water and get one of the gyarados. Or...hm.

It seems most kids only get a pokemon or two. They must be meant to be able to win against a more experienced trainer even with bad matchups, or perhaps it's not even about winning but doing well enough. In that case… The yungoos, the rattata and the rockruff. Maybe the meowth and the magnemite. Show how well she can do even handing Hala such an advantage.

And there's the pikachu...she'll do that if Hala doesn't go down gracefully, she decides. If he tries to stonewall her, if he insists on winning, she'll come back for her second try and make the comparison even more obvious by using the same pokemon as his flinching little grandson.

What else has she caught?

The pokedex obligingly lists them in order: " **Popplio, pikipek, yungoos, rattata, caterpie, ledyba, pichu, pikachu, wingull, abra, meowth, magnemite, grimer, gengar, magikarp, rockruff, tentacool, finneon, wishiwashi, staryu, pyukumuku.** Popplio, pikipek, yungoos, rattata, caterpie, ledyba, pichu, pikachu, wingull, abra, meowth, magnemite, grimer, gengar, magikarp, rockruff, tentacool, finneon, wishiwashi, staryu, pyukumuku."

Oh yes, that one. She releases him onto her lap.

He does feel as nice as the pyukumuku cubes she ate, and she spends a few minutes idly kneading the soft wet flesh of his body while he wiggles to himself, " **Here now? What? Oh a thing. I hope it doesn't touch my spikes. Okay that's fine. Here is more than ten thousand from there, oh oh. And such elevation. Is this the highest point or would I have to climb up to go down? Overland six nights five days if flat or angled down if speed decrease previously observed from drying is not linear but logarithmic...** "

"You're so squishy," she tells him eventually. "Can you stick to things?"

The pyukumuku lets out a little blorp as he stretches and then contracts to suction onto her legs.

"Excellent."

She tries to find out more but the pokedex continues to be only halfway useful. " **Due to their appearance and their lifestyle, pyukumuku are considered unappealing to tourists. Part-time work chucking pyukumuku back into the sea is available at tourist beaches. But no matter how far they're thrown, pyukumuku will always return to the same spot.** Due to their appearance and their lifestyle, pyukumuku are considered unappealing to tourists. Part-time work chucking pyukumuku back into the sea is available at tourist beaches. But no matter how far they're thrown, pyukumuku will always return to the same spot.

" **Once a pyukumuku finds a place it likes, it won't budge from it. If someone moves it away, back it comes to the same spot. If it runs out of food to eat in that spot, it'll stay there—and starve. The people of Alola found this so pitiful that they developed a tradition of chucking pyukumuku back into the food-rich sea whenever they come across any thin-bellied pyukumuku.** Once a pyukumuku finds a place it likes, it won't budge from it. If someone moves it away, back it comes to the same spot. If it runs out of food to eat in that spot, it'll stay there—and starve. The people of Alola found this so pitiful that they developed a tradition of chucking pyukumuku back into the food-rich sea whenever they come across any thin-bellied pyukumuku.

" **Pyukumuku are covered with a slippery, viscous fluid that has a moisturizing effect. Pyukumuku can stay on land for a week without drying out. The people of Alola use this fluid for skincare products.** Pyukumuku are covered with a slippery, viscous fluid that has a moisturizing effect. Pyukumuku can stay on land for a week without drying out. The people of Alola use this fluid for skincare products.

" **Pyukumuku hate to have their spikes and mouths touched, and if you step on one, it will hurl out its fist-like inner organs to strike at you. When this pokemon is attacked in battle, it will be also lash out at its attacker, dealing retaliatory damage.** Pyukumuku hate to have their spikes and mouths touched, and if you step on one, it will hurl out its fist-like inner organs to strike at you. When this pokemon is attacked in battle, it will be also lash out at its attacker, dealing retaliatory damage."

Luckily, one of the other trainers at the cafe takes this as invitation to chat with her, happy to have found another 'pyukumuku enthusiast', saving Bonnibel from having to talk with the pokedex. "Most tourists can't stand them," she says to Bonnibel in stage-whispered confidence. "They may be pretty gross to touch, but they're really such fascinating pokemon." She explains they're similar in use to wobbuffet. "Except, for some reason, they can't use mirror coat. They're entirely physical in nature, for some reason. It might be because they're remarkably stupid." Despite that lack they're capable of using far more moves total, which is more likely to be useful to her, and possess some interesting inherent traits.

"So they have a sort of reflexive counter move?" she asks.

"Yeah. They always manage a counter-blow, even if they faint right after. You wouldn't think something so squishy could be so tenacious, would you."

Hm.

She plops the pyukumuku on her shoulder, soft flesh against the side of her neck and jaw, and gets up.

There's plenty of leafy trees around, and so far training has involved a lot less walking than it usually does. At some point, pokemon will learn better, but they haven't by the time the sun is low and she can move around again.

The meowth turns out to be quite manageable. He doesn't try disobeying orders for the sake of them and though there's little energy to his motions, he carries out the moves competently. When she picks him up afterward, he's limp in her hands and looks at her like he can only see the trees beyond. "What a good pokemon you are," she says. "I hope the others learn from your example."

She heads south and finds a convenience store selling berry bowls. There's a variety of sliced berries on top arranged in colored lines like a fruity rainbow. When she digs into one she finds it's largely a blended belue base with some cooked oats. It's riddled with the faint, intriguing sourness of something that's been sitting out just a bit too long.

A number of adults are sitting outside, snacking on something that looks to be made of rice topped with blended and pressed pork and then wrapped in seaweed. It smells mostly like salt.

New friends for Bonnibel! Indeed, they're quite happy to talk to her about the island traditions, Team Skull, and how layabout kids will get what's coming to them. What a delight Bonnibel is in comparison.

Capturing the pokemon who live in the trial sites? It's supposed to be a pretty big deal, similar to getting a starter pokemon, which makes it all the more offensive that kids who don't even deserve to have one want to catch lots and sell them. It used to be understood you should only catch a single trial pokemon from your native island, but there isn't an official law and that was a mistake, they all agree. The sixty-three year old man, the second oldest, adds, "And captains being right there to mollycoddle them through every battle...that's why they haven't got any respect for the pokemon anymore!"

Likely his own grandparents would say the same about catching trial pokemon at all.

"I've heard some captains on the other islands, they don't even always make challengers do a whole trial, not like our Captain Ilima," one of the younger ones, a mere twenty-six, says. "You're lucky you started here in Melemele, got to have a proper start!"

Hala's threat? "He should do that right now!" a fifty-two year old declares. "Don't wait for them to get the tapu in a rage. Tie them to the center in front of everyone, announce their crimes and call for Tapu Koko to judge them, scare those kids straight! That'll teach them not to take the island challenge seriously. Ilima is a good kid, but he just doesn't have a firm hand."

"It's those Kalosians," says another. "Always wanting to talk about how troublemakers feel and why they did it. I don't know why they sent him off to study there, they're a terrible influence for a growing boy."

"Spare the rod and spoil the child."

No one's interested in caning Bonnibel, of course. She's doing what she's supposed to do and they could not be more pleased about it.

"Ilima's been telling everyone about how you stepped up to teach those thugs a lesson even in the middle of your own trial. Not one of them would've done it, believe me! They wouldn't even have waited for Ilima to do it for them. No, they'd have sat down and given up on the spot, then demanded he hand them a crystal to make up for it!"

"And would they be grateful?" interjects the sixty-three year old again. "No! They want everything done for them, but then they're going off at all hours and abandoning their families without so much as a by your leave."

Another man, barely forty, nods. "It's good for kids to experience their own journeys, but running away without even word to your parents is another thing entirely. I tried to set that boy of mine straight, but when I did, I was the one who got beat…" The other men nod sympathetically.

Bonnibel tells him that's awful! She can't believe anyone would be so disrespectful to their parents! She'd never ever ever do anything like that to her mom who works so hard for her and how could she even think of doing less than that in return? This place is so wonderful and everyone is so nice and smart and she doesn't know why any kids wouldn't be grateful and want to work hard in return.

The men ask about her father and she drops her eyes shyly and explains Bonnibel doesn't really remember. "My daddy died in an accident when I was really little. Mom says I look so much like him, though." And she tells them all that she just can't believe kids who still have their dad don't appreciate it and they tell her what a wonderful little girl she is.

And such a good work ethic, they add, such a go-getter, when she says she'd better get back to training her pokemon because she's going up against the great Kahuna Hala.

They're all smiling as widely as Bonnibel when she leaves. It's enough to make her actually want Hala to insist on beating her. Does a kahuna stay a kahuna all their life? Maybe she'll get to find out.

She sets her pokemon against other trainers' pokemon for a bit, largely tourists, until those filter away to their hotel rooms for the night, then she goes after wild pokemon again for a while. Under one tree, she finds a sensible pokemon, a crabrawler who tries to flee instead of stand her ground, but it's not like it matters, not really.

" **Looks like you're getting to know the pokemon on Melemele island pretty well, partner!** Looks like you're getting to know the pokemon on Melemele island pretty well, partner!" comes out of the pokedex.

Finally, when her pokemon are too worn out to continue, she sits under one of the darker bunches of trees to relax and begins to pick at her peeling skin, pulling off strips and popping them one by one into her mouth to grind between her molars. The rich smoothness of the concealer's texture contrasts sharply with its burning-sour taste.

The islands are so small that everywhere is the smell of ocean waves. People talk about it as the smell of freedom even as they stop at the shoreline. Well, it wouldn't be so weird to think of it that way here, would it? Even the furthest main island is less than a day's swim away from another one. Not that Bonnibel would do such a dangerous thing. And beyond's a scattering of smaller islands that maybe triples the size of the archipelago in total, and then open water too vast for any person to cross alone.

But people aren't alone. Bonnibel will never be alone. People don't want to be alone. Bonnibel is happy with the smell of salted options permeating the air, she decides. It's a popular opinion.

The new skin under the sunburn is too thin a covering over raw flesh, all pink and shiny from the strain of holding the blood in, so she takes a while longer to cover it all in another layer of makeup. She taps the hard crust of the glue in her arm, picks at it until a bit of red seeps out the edges. That'll be a while longer.

She might as well go through the fence. Rushing right off into anywhere new just uses it up, but avoid it long enough and it might as well be a barrier itself. And she hasn't much else to do.

How long has Hau been here, putting off his journey?

"Kids today," she says to herself, mimicking the man's voice. "They're just not grateful for what they have."

The pyukumuku squishes a bit on her shoulder. " **I didn't know humans could sound like other humans. It must be so confusing. How do they decide who gets what voice? Do they trade voice rights, is that why this one is using another one's now, was it acquired? How many voices do they have to go around? Can they all make every voice or does everyone only have a subset? The number of voices per individual would have to be large to fit with existing data of no overlaps within multiple groups of several hundred, but if we assume an extremely large total number, then -** "

A mankey screeches above, " **Humans just like to mimic other humans sometimes. It's not like she can keep talking like that for more than a couple words, or sounds exactly like the other one when she does. You're building all your reasoning on sand! SAND!** "

" **But that did sound exactly like the other one.** "

" **It can't be exactly it's just close!** " the mankey screeches, swinging around on the branch. " **All humans have their own voices! You're just remembering wrong because it happened a while ago! Or something!** "

"What a loud pokemon," Bonnibel says. "I wonder if she wants to join my team."

" **I'm confident I'm not remembering it wrong. The frequency -** "

" **WHY IS EVERYONE SO STUPID!?** " the mankey howls from above Bonnibel's head and drops down.

She doesn't drop on Bonnibel. Bonnibel has already stepped to one side. Bonnibel's arm reaches out, grabs the mankey by the windmilling tail and smashes her sideways into the tree's trunk.

"Pokemon don't attack people," Bonnibel says into the sudden quiet. The mankey isn't in any state to take the criticism to heart but then, mankey aren't known for their foresight regardless. Hopefully bystanders will be able to learn more from her example. Bonnibel drops a pokeball onto the bloody mess.

The ball dings. " **You're moving along at a nice clip, partner! Keep up the pace and find all Alola's pokemon!** You're moving along at a nice clip, partner! Keep up the pace and find all Alola's pokemon!" comes out of her pokedex.

Well, at least until she beats Hala. Then, well, she'd wager she's already done a good lot more than Kukui ever got out of anybody else, so he can't complain too much if she starts slacking off. Maybe it'd be more fun to be Alola's favored daughter, show how easy it is to live up to what people ask, how there's no excuse for falling short.

" **Hanini?** " a mankey hoots in the distance. " **Did something - ? Hanini? Hanini!** "

She goes north. The world on the other side of the fence is much the same, but that was never in doubt. A bit rockier, a bit sandier.

After dawn, she lets her pokemon all out for a breather and a meal. The meowth grooms his pristine fur as the rockruff wags her tail madly.

" **What's your name? I'm Leimomi!** " A string of pearls? Well, that would be valued more than the granite that studs her neck.

" **Keakaninuiamamao. Don't lick me.** "

She sits back. " **Aw, but you get to lick you!** "

" **Even still.** "

The rockruff's distracted then by the rattata hissing at the yungoos and moving to steal food.

" **Don't be bad!** " her rockruff barks. " **If you're annoying your trainer might get rid of you!**

The rattata squeaks, " **Whatever.** "

" **Don't joke!** "

The pyukumuku blorps quietly, " **I thought trainers just put you down and leave. Do they eat you? Why are you yelling?** "

" **Being thrown away is awful! Don't you want her to love you forever and ever?** "

A long ripple goes down the pyukumuku's length, " **No. Why? Who cares about humans anyway…** "

The rockruff erupts into a frenzy of barks, " **Who cares? Who cares? Humans the best! Humans are like moms!** "

The rattata squeaks, " **I've got a mom. Don't you know your own parents? You've got a name.** "

" **Of course I had a mom, but humans are like ones that you don't lose! Ones you can keep! They'll stay with you all your life!** "

" **Unless they get rid of you…** "

" **That's why you can't be bad!** "

The whole cacophony is upsetting Popplio, and he retreats back to Bonnibel. She pats him and says, "Finish eating."

Obediently, he returns to his bowl. After a moment, he barks hesitantly, " **Umm… Did you know, our trainer's mother has a weird white meowth! And she told me that's what meowth look like far away.** "

" **Yes.** " The meowth picks at the pellets of food, eating them slowly but neatly one by one. He might like something better, but he and his kind live on garbage out of dumpsters and scraps ground into the dirt and he's not going to starve waiting for what won't come.

" **Is it true?** " Popplio barks.

" **Yes. Yes, it's true. The meowth that came here long ago were said to have snowy fur like that of the vulpix, but it pleased the royalty of this place that we be as cool shadows in the bright day, as the rarest of pearls in the depths. And so we were. So we are, though our masters are dead.** "

The rockruff growls, distressed, " **They're not your masters! She's your master.** "

" **She possesses me, and there are no kings left to say otherwise.** "

" **You meowth always sound so sad about it. You shouldn't! Everybody knows the kings were bad! You should be grateful to the people here that they didn't kill the meowth too.** "

" **They did not kill my ancestors. They killed the brothers and sisters of my ancestors, but yes, were magnanimous enough they spared those who escaped them. And when it came to pass that they desired the same trappings of kings they had trampled and spat upon, doors opened again and they invited us so forcefully to their hearths. How churlish our ingratitude is. There is great pride in knowing your skin is so desired as to lie both above and beneath the wealthiest bottoms,** " he meows, batting a paw. " **And now they are so pleased by our countenance that none may leave these islands, for it so lifts their hearts to see us starving in their alleys.** "

The rockruff whines, " **You should be glad. You should be. Better than the cookpot…** "

" **The existence of worse does not make a thing better. Besides, if we're naught but an expensive bauble, why not be as much of one as they can endure?** "

"You're so cute!" Bonnibel tells them. "Meow meow bark bark, all so serious! Why so serious, fluffy-fluff?" She picks up the meowth and shoves Bonnibel's face into his. The fur's thick and spongy against her nose and cheeks, but she far prefers the pyukumuku. There's just the faintest tense to his muscles under her fingers, a bit of startled confusion with no real intent of attacking her for it. She pulls him back and smiles.

The meowth meows, " **Does it amuse you to treat me so? Our contract is not as theirs is. If you want me to pretend at loving your presence, you'll have to pay me for it.** "

"You're such a good pokemon," she tells him again.

" **He's not!** " the rockruff growls. " **He's an ungrateful jerk.** "

The rattata squeaks, " **Oh relax. The lady's got no idea what's going on. She'll figure it out eventually.** "

She says to the limp body in Bonnibel's hands, "I think I will give you to my mother after all. I'll tell her, 'I don't think he likes battling, so I guess he should stay with you! Just call me if he seems to miss battling, like if he starts fights with your meowth.' You'll be my going-away present, after I use you in the last battle." She taps his nose gently with one finger. "She's not some fancy royalty like the pokedex says you guys once belonged to, but I'm sure that doesn't really matter."

He meows at her, " **They would have killed you for touching me,** " and she boops him on the nose again.

"I'm glad you agree! You get it, right? It's not like there's any difference between one human and another. It's like this story I heard once. There were these two little orphan boys who looked so alike, they believed they were twins. No one would give them food or shelter, for they said only, oh, those common thieves and children of common thieves, with scabby skin, knobbly knees, swollen noses and shifty eyes. They stole food and when the police caught them they were beaten so badly one of them died. When the other boy went before the magistrate, he would not even speak, so they beat him again for his lowborn insolence and then searched him, only to find the one possession the boys owned, an ornate locket. Why, they realized, this boy was the only child of a noble man, whose wife had been murdered on a trip and son lost! They should have realized it, they said, for his quiet dignity in the court, his fragile skin and weak constitution too delicate for such a harsh life. And the man came and said oh yes, yes, this is my son, my precious child of my blood, and in time the boy inherited the title and estate and had a noble child in the same noble mold."

The other pokemon squeak and titter.

"Of course, it's not such a funny story here, because it's kinda too obvious, don't you think? Some places have had royalty for ten thousand years, but the people who came here a thousand years ago from Kanto, to this little isolated patch in the middle of nowhere...it's not like there was a single noble in the boatload."

The meowth is like stone under her hand.

And then it passes. He twists his head to the side and hisses, " **Say what you will. What would some tourist child know anyway.** "

"Yeah, Mom's going to just love you. Love you to bits if you let her." But he won't.

Then she makes them fight more.

Eventually, she goes back to the pokecenter and waits in the cafe while they look over her pokemon. They offer coffee and that seems like the proper thing to drink with the sun rising. It comes sweetened with palm sugar and lightened by coconut milk, but it's still intensely bitter from overroasted, burnt beans.

It's a bit past eight when she leaves again, but she hasn't even found another pokemon before a voice shouts out, "Alola, Bonnibel!" Kukui jogs over. "Ilima said I might find you here. Getting an early start to the day, yeah? I'm lookin' forward to seeing what moves you and your pokemon will pour your soul into now that you've gone and cleared your first trial! It'll be the grand trial next! You should know, the Melemele kahuna is strong, cousin! He's a trainer who can use fighting-type pokémon to the fullest, yeah." She wonders if he thinks little of Bonnibel, that she would need the help, or if it's that he's also concerned Hala might want to hold her back. "Might not be a bad idea to work on those flying- or psychic-type moves! And I also wanted to tell you a bit about using some incredible z-powered moves!"

He's about to say something about how different Alola is again, so Bonnibel says, "Oh, thank you, Professor! Everyone keeps mentioning it, but we don't have anything like that in Kanto."

Kukui nods with a big grin. "Yeah, around here everybody's seen them in action a hundred times before they start on their own journey. Kids in preschool play at practising the moves, yeah. Since it's brand-new to you, it'll probably be a while until you get the hang of it, but I can go over the basics with you, cousin! So, first off, you need to combine the crystal and bracelet, right in the slot here." He points to the rocky loop around his own wrist. "You can do this in the middle of battle if you have a couple, but that's a pretty advanced move! And with only one available to you at the moment, you don't need to worry about which to pick."

Obligingly, she clicks the crystal into place.

"The crystal from Ilima's trial resonates with the normal type! Now people mostly think of type as being about the pokemon, but moves have types too! And that's good, because if you had to use normal types against the kahuna here...well, we'd never get to see it in action!" Really? So he doesn't think much of anyone. "Having the normalium crystal means the move you'll unlock with your pokemon will be of that type, one we call breakneck blitz, yeah! And that's not just to sound dramatic. Watch and learn, cousin! Rockruff!"

His rockruff barks, " **Ready!** "

Kukui waves his arms in a way similar to Ilima, but faster and more expansive. The crystal glows. Kukui shouts, and then - the rockruff is glowing, a bit like the glow of the totem pokemon in color if not in feel, before launching forward. It could be mistaken for a run, the way the rockruff moves, except the motion of her legs doesn't quite match the way she speeds up. It's more like the pokemon's being flung. She's halted by a jut of rock. It cracks as she bounces off, and then the glow fades. The rockruff bounces back to her feet unharmed, barking madly, " **Haha awesome I wish we could do it again!** "

The rockruff's trajectory was so straight. Can they turn, or do they continue until they strike something?

Heaping all their emotions onto a pokemon...and Hau's story, where to avoid the destruction of using such moves, their sacred pokemon had to withdraw from humans entirely. That makes sense now. This is…

This is really what people wanted all along.

"Phew! Z-powers heap all of a trainer's feelings onto a pokemon, yeah, which totally wears you out!"

Bonnibel nods.

He opens his mouth and she weighs her options, but then his face freezes up. "No!" He strikes his palm against his forehead. "It's like I used amnesia!" But he didn't, because he's a person. He'd never need to, because he's a person. "I forgot that I lost Lillie somewhere on Route 3! I got so caught up in watching pokemon and their moves I didn't realize she wasn't with me, and then when I started looking for her, I saw you! Think you could spare some time to help me look for her, Bonnibel?"

"Of course! Poor Lillie, she's not even a trainer…" It's not like Bonnibel was planning on doing anything but walk around fighting pokemon.

"Thanks, cousin. She's no trainer, yeah, so I don't think she could have gone too far on her own… Let's split up and find her, yeah!"

And that saves her the trouble of suggesting they do that. Kukui can go back to whatever he was doing without bugging Bonnibel, and then afterward they'll both say it was just luck she found Lillie first.

Bonnibel heads north, past the fence yet again. It's nice to have confirmation that no one will think much of her getting past one on the rest of the islands. She passes some time with spearow, seeing how long they'll keep coming. For a bit, it's like every new body bleeding at her feet just spurs them on, like they think they can hold this little patch of rock by numbers and unity. Like anyone can hold any patch by any means.

She attracts a bit of an audience, hobbyist tourists who cheer as the fight goes on. "Way to teach them some manners!" one girl shouts in East-accented Sinnohan, too excited to think that a Kanto trainer like Bonnibel is unlikely to know a word of it.

When it's over, when it's quiet, Bonnibel crouches over them. "Now you know better," she says.

Now they know better.

Lillie obviously isn't in the area. She'd be screaming if she was cornered and threatened, because that's something allowed to people, and if not, she'd have likely come to see what Bonnibel was doing. Maybe she'd have cried at the sight, but that's less allowed for people, and Lillie seems to know at least that much.

But what did happen to Lillie? It's possible that she's purely lost, as Kukui thinks, but… Lillie didn't ask for directions when she got lost looking for Bonnibel, or if she did she's so useless they made no difference, but that only inconvenienced Lillie. Getting separated from someone is inconveniencing them, or would if Kukui would go out of his way to look for Lillie, and she would guess that certain trouble Lillie was already causing to someone she feels indebted too would outweigh risking troubling a new stranger for help. More likely, Lillie is stuck somewhere, and somewhere without trainers to beg. Is her luck bad enough to fall into the one corner of this island not crawling with tourists?

She might be dead, too. Bonnibel would go back to Kukui and say that she looked everywhere but couldn't find her. What would happen next? As days pass, will they end up crying over the loss, hurt all the more by not knowing for sure? Or will they just think Lillie ran off and forget about her? Bonnibel could come back, right before she leaves the whole region, and just happen to stumble over…

Oh.

"Hey Lillie," Bonnibel says with the perfect amount of relief in her voice and just a trifle winded like she's been running all over.

The scene doesn't quite make sense. Lillie's looking at Bonnibel with wet eyes and parched skin and such a miserable expression, but there's plenty of people running around in the flower-packed meadow below for Lillie to ask for help. The air is so thick with the scent that Bonnibel can barely smell anything else...like a repel.

"Nebby ran off," Lillie whimpers.

She's afraid to ask for help from anyone new and she can't go herself when the repellent scent is overwhelmed by the flowers and she doesn't dare leave without Nebby. Bonnibel nods. So she's just been standing here for hours. Does Bonnibel know what dehydration looks like? No, Bonnibel never learned, especially when it's not like she's in the habit of spending a lot of time outdoors in high summer. "Into the flowers?" Bonnibel asks. "Or did you not see where she went?"

"Nebby went into the meadow… It might have gone to the caves, I lost sight of it! What if a wild pokemon attacks it? It doesn't have any moves it can use to battle! Please..."

Bonnibel does know what distress looks like, so, "Don't worry, I'll go get Nebby for you." Then, because it's a reasonable thing to say, "But this is really why you should keep her in a pokeball." And she wades into the flowers.

" **Hurry it** hurry **up and save** it **Nebby** up **already!** And save **we** Nebby **little pokemon** already! **Need all the** we **help** little **we can** pokemon **get!** Need all the help we can get!"

What would distinguish this time and this pokemon from all the other ones? Hm. As a pokemon who already has an owner, Nebby's irrelevant to the purpose of a pokedex, so Bonnibel supposes it'd only be their own opinion coming through. To be so defined by transitory forms...is it pitiable or just pathetic?

The flowers aren't so thick that Nebby would be completely invisible within them, so the pokemon must've found some other hiding spot, and the caves against the wall do seem a good option. She fights each pokemon that she finds along the way. She wonders if Lillie is watching all this or has covered her face, but Bonnibel doesn't bother turning to find out. Bonnibel is so busy doing exactly what Lillie asked of her she'd never think of it.

She doesn't have to get all the way to the wall, as it turns out. When she gets close enough the stalks start to rustle toward her and then Nebby pops out entirely, even more teary-eyed and ragged than her owner.

Bonnibel shoves the pokemon back under the flowers. "You're supposed to stay out of sight, aren't you?"

Nebby is making little hiccupy sobs, " **I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry.** "

"Since you're Lillie's, I can't just catch you, and since she didn't bother getting you a pokeball, you'll just have to follow me back from down there," she continues.

" **She can't, it's that she can't, she didn't know where it was,** " Nebby sniffles.

Huh. Stolen, really? Maybe she should stick around Lillie more, she'd love to see the ending of this. There's no way Lillie keeps this up long enough for that timer to expire. "Well, come along. I'm not wasting potions on a disobedient pokemon, so you'll have to wait until we get back for Lillie to decide what to do with you."

Nebby sobs the whole way back, " **I didn't mean to I'm sorry I just wanted to go home I'm sorry I thought I thought I felt but then I couldn't find it I tried to come back but I got attacked I would've come back and I just thought I felt and I just want to go home…** "

When they do reach Lillie, who it turns out had managed to keep her eyes on them, Nebby makes a predictable lunge to climb the slope and Bonnibel's hand shoves her back under. "Do you want to come down or would you rather just drop the bag?" Bonnibel asks Lillie, who rushes down so fast she ends up tumbling. Bonnibel doesn't get out of the way, because you can't do that to people, so Lillie only smacks face-first into her instead of the rocky ground and sending red splatters across the dirt and flower stalks.

"I'm sorry I'm so sorry!" she babbles. Then, "Nebby, you -"

But it's all forgotten when she sees what a mess Nebby is, and she starts blubbering out water she really doesn't have to spare and pulling out medicine to waste.

"Right… Back into the bag, please, Nebby," she says finally, holding it out, then looks at Bonnibel with pathetic apology. "I always carry lots of potions on me to keep Nebby healthy. That's the best I can do, since I'm not a real trainer or anything… But I can heal your pokemon too!"

"Don't worry about it," she says. "They're fine. These weren't difficult battles."

"I guess we should be going now... The professor will probably be worried after the way we just disappeared on him…"

"He asked me to help find you, actually," she says. "We split up so we could search better."

"I'm so sorry for causing all this trouble." She's wobbling on her feet.

Bonnibel...Bonnibel would know collapsing is bad. She could sit Lillie down before that happens and leave, but it likely wouldn't matter and anyway, isn't seeing what happens with Nebby going to be more entertaining? Maybe Bonnibel can be outraged. After all, pokemon thieves are terrible. "You don't look so good," Bonnibel says, and offers her a bottle. Lillie sips and then guzzles the water, then she stops halfway and shoves it into her bag for Nebby.

"He-e-ey! Lillie! Bonnibel!" Hau rushes over. "So this is where you got to, huh? Melemele's meadow is a nice place to get lost, isn't it?"

Lillie tries to say, "I didn't mean -" but Hau is still chattering, "I love it here! All the cute cutieflies, and Melemele's oricorio are the best, yeah!"

"You know, I read something in a book once…" Lillie says. "It seems the pokemon called oricorio changes appearance by feeding on the nectar from different types of flowers. It's not actually evolving but undergoing a so-called 'form change.' Isn't that interesting? I thought it was, anyway…"

This makes the pokedex pop out again. " **There are four known forms of oricorio! Although the change in appearance may be the most dramatic, they also change type and behavior in the process!** There are four known forms of oricorio! Although the change in appearance may be the most dramatic, they also change type and behavior in the process! **Melemele's oricorio are known as the pom-pom form and are exceptionally friendly. But people who migrated from Kanto feel a great liking for the dignified sensu form because its dance reminds them of their homeland, so maybe you'd like that one better! They're not seen around often, however, because they require nectar from the intimidating Poni Island. You'll have to work hard and win many battles, but that should be no problem for you, clever girl.** Melemele's oricorio are known as the pom-pom form and are exceptionally friendly. But people who migrated from Kanto feel a great liking for the dignified sensu form because its dance reminds them of their homeland, so maybe you'd like that one better! They're not seen around often, however, because they require nectar from the intimidating Poni Island. You'll have to work hard and win many battles, but that should be no problem for you, clever girl."

"Oh my…" says Lillie. "Are all four types of flowers found in Alola?"

" **Naturally! Oricorio are one of the pokemon designated as part of island culture, and have not been allowed out, even by trade! Only Alolan citizens may own them.** Naturally! Oricorio are one of the pokemon designated as part of island culture, and have not been allowed out, even by trade! Only Alolan citizens may own them."

There's been hundreds of years of trade. They must die if they go too long without the right sort of nectar, and the Alolan government must be aggressive enough at investigating anyone who tries to keep a greenhouse of flowers known to work. She'll have to remember to mention it to Kukui. Probably pretty frustrating to know everyone's either too rich to care about doing such obvious research or too poor to keep it hidden.

...is that it? The pokedex is recording those encountered, not just caught. And earlier, the list of pokemon had been said in order of how common they were thought to be. Proving there's a healthy population would be a good starting point to argue the restrictions could be relaxed. But "island culture"..."it so lifts their hearts"...it's probably not wholly about what number could safely be removed each year. Some people, some very important people, must oppose it entirely. But maybe others could be swayed if Kukui could get enough data to prove it could be done without compromising the ecosystem. And would those be enough?

Hala made it clear his grandson is more important to him. He won't cry that hard over a change. But how would Kukui feel if he got what he thought he needed and then it still didn't matter? And would that happen if she gets him his information, or would he actually succeed?

Hard to say what Bonnibel wants to do at this point. Bonnibel hasn't given it much thought, she decides. Bonnibel might stay on task, or meeting new people might distract her. She'll have to see.

"Hey, Bonnibel! I wanna see if I really learned anything from my trial. Let me battle you again!"

"That sounds like a great idea," Bonnibel tells Hau.

It's not a pichu but a pikachu he sends out, which is a trifle surprising. Already? Well, that's that, then. Hardly even Hau's fault.

"Aww, man! I wanted to show off my pokemon's best side more!" Hau cries when his litten stays down, but after he recalls the pokemon he's upbeat. "So you and me both beat that totem pokemon, huh, Bonnibel? Looks like we're getting pretty strong!" His grin fades a little. "But I wonder if I'll ever really be able to beat my gramps at this rate..."

Bonnibel says, "Oh no! You think we'll fail the grand trial?"

"No, nah, I mean…" He sighs then. "I mean, it's only our first, and we've only beaten a single totem. I know you'll do great, Bonnibel! And I...I'm sure I can do it, if I work hard. But it won't be an all-out battle. We're not ready for that. But by the end of the island challenge...that's what it's supposed to be about. And, how can I ever be kahuna if I can't even fight the kahuna for real?"

"Are...do kahunas have to be the strongest trainers?" Lillie asks.

"Sorta… Tutu's the strongest ever, and all the kahunas would have to be strong if they're taking care of their island. Poni Island doesn't even have a kahuna right now and they say it's because the next person wasn't strong enough yet. And Tapu Koko especially…! I don't know if it wants the best, but everybody knows it wants us to go all out, so I have to be able to fight Tutu like that or the battle won't be any good in Tapu Koko's eyes."

Then he insists they come back to Iki Town to have supper.

"But the professor - " Lillie tries to say, and Hau reassures her that they'll pass the message along that they've found her.

"We don't know where he is by now," Bonnibel agrees. "If we go looking, we might end up where he was while he looks where we were. It's better to find a place to meet up." It's fun, really, the lack of cellphones here. All sorts of things that can happen.

At the fence, Hau runs ahead and pulls his crystal from his pocket. It's bad design to make it need that from both sides. If anyone's on the wrong side, it's all the more important they get through. Or…any person, at least.

This particular fence isn't much of a barrier, but was that the idea? Like a bigger version of those red gates in the city. It was probably different in the past, maybe, larger still. The lower area is lusher and the upper area rocky, poorer quality and that's like they say -

\- but -

\- why would Bonnibel care about that story, Bonnibel probably doesn't even know it, wouldn't think of it, it has no meaning to -

"Bonnibel?"

They're looking at her, because she's stopped, they're ahead of her and she's just standing around like an idiot. She jogs to catch up and says, "Sorry, got lost in thought I guess! I was just thinking about how nice everything is up here." She should say something specific she should say something about the gate that's what Bonnibel was facing the gate Bonnibel says, "The fence is really pretty! It has the same pattern as the amulet Kahuna Hala gave us. Why is that?"

It turns out Hau doesn't know the details. "I think...well, you've got to do the island trials to go through, but… I think it's, triangles are good luck, they protect you. Like a shield...or maybe a house."

She taps each finger against her thumb in turn one two three four one two three four one two three four one two three four. A triangle's an easy thing to make with hands, to scrape in the dirt or carve in the wood or paint on the rock, a shape that didn't exist until it was made, a person imposing something they imagined onto reality so it became reality, and what was there before only a story. One two three four, fingernails digging into the thumbpad.

"Or like scales…" Lillie offers.

"No, kommo-o has round scales, and it's got a really distinct pattern of one circle inside the other. It'd be way different if that was the idea," Hau says, voice stronger now that he's got something to be certain about.

So Bonnibel says, "It looks like an arrowhead to me."

"O-oh?" All his confidence vanishes and he turns to look back at the fence. "I guess." He looks at the little bauble his grandfather gave him with its same alternating triangles, clearly discomforted by the idea, so Bonnibel says, "Hey, that could be the shape of one too!" and she points to the protruding sides and adds, "Those would be hooks to help it stay in. Did the ancient Alolans use arrows?"

That he doesn't know either. Why would he? It's not something that matters to people now. He doesn't even know what an arrowhead actually looks like.

"I think everyone was using pokemon by the time people came to these islands," Lillie says.

"Well, maybe it's just because it's such a pretty design then. Everything here's so cool."

"And the grand trial's going to be even cooler!" Hau says, wrenching the conversation back to better topics. "Tutu, he says it's fine for the both of us to do our trial on the same day, so I'll fight at noon and then you'll go in the evening, so his pokemon can rest. Okay?"

Won't be able to use the yungoos in that case. "Okay! That sounds perfect. I'll be all rested and ready too by then!" Does Hala understand at all what's going to happen? The island gossips like a vespiquen's skirt, and he's seen plenty of kids before, enough to know how rare the skill she shows is, something that, like mega evolution, he's probably only seen at a distance. It's pretty well known to everyone - the story of the child prodigy, the new trainer who's more in-sync with its pokemon than people twice its age… But Hala won't want to see that, so maybe he won't. Maybe she'll be nothing more to him than his grandson's rival, and he's too concerned with how she fares compared to Hau to think to worry about how she'll fare against him.

As they round the corner, there's a little kid's voice, the words unintelligible but sing-song. It's running around an adult carrying bags, voice suddenly spiking - "ASK! Me no…" then it's too quiet to make out. The adult smacks it in the back of the head.

Lillie jerks like she's struck.

The kid's knocked forward by the blow, limbs flailing for balance, but it catches itself. It laughs and runs ahead.

"What just…" Lillie asks.

Hau looks embarrassed. "She's, uh, it's a dumb song kids sing to make adults mad. You sing it until they hit you."

"Really?" Bonnibel says, like that's the most interesting thing she's ever heard.

Lillie's voice quavers a little. "Why would they hit their kids?"

"It's, it's a really dumb song," Hau says, his face getting redder. "A cheeky one."

The thing he's really trying to avoid is - "How come? What are the words?"

He stops. "Um...it's…" Bonnibel stares at him with wide waiting eyes. He takes a breath, then mumbles, "...dianahadagrowlithe, thegrowlithehadabell, dianawenttoheavenand, thegrowlithewentto, helloopperator, pleasegivemenumbernine, andifyoudisconnectme, I'llchopoffyourbehindthefrigerator, therewasapieceofglass, dianasatuponitandcutherbigfataskmenomorequestions, I'lltellyounomorelies, diana'sskippingschooltheverydayshe, dianahadagrowlithe... and then you keep singing that until somebody hits you. The, the idea is that you're saying words that you're not supposed to, only you're not exactly, so it's not breaking any rules, but it's really...um, it's insolent, so they hit you for it."

"Oh, I've heard that song before," Bonnibel tells him. "Kids do that other places too."

"They do?" Lillie's voice is just so horrified. Bonnibel would laugh, but a laugh's as bad as a sob.

Hau does laugh. Not a happy laugh but much like the other kid had, in relief it wasn't as bad as it could've been. "Really? I guess Alola's not that weird, then."

"People are the same everywhere," she tells him.

Supper is back at his house, it turns out, which is similar in size though not in style to that of Ilima's. His pokemon stay in their pokeballs as Hau excitedly ladles their plates full of rice, more blended meat fried in fat, gravy, and some white goop on one side.

Lillie stops gulping water and stares at the dish before her in quiet horror. After a moment, she picks up a fork and stabs the top of the white stuff. She proceeds to eat it in tiny, determined bites that remind Bonnibel of her meowth.

Bonnibel scoops up a large hunk and finds it's milky, yolk-rich mayonnaise soaking deep into chewy elbow pasta. The crispy charred edges of the meat coated in the starchy gravy is just as delightful, and Bonnibel appreciates the slight crunch of the rice too. Hau cooked this, she'd guess. Excited to have people over, some experience making a meal but not something he does every day.

There would have been no other kid the same age for the festival battle without Bonnibel. But there are other kids, and Hau has no practice to his loneliness, so, where are his friends?

Bonnibel asks him about what it was like growing up here. Here in this wonderful paradise with so many friendly people. Did he have a lot of grand adventures as a little kid?

He says yes, but what he tells them are tiny things. "...so we thought there was a rare pokemon hidden in the school. We snuck back in at night through a window and then climbed onto a bookshelf to reach the ceiling, and then Kaʻaukai-"

"Who's that?" she says instantly.

His face crumples and his eyes drop and slide sideways. Better than she would've hoped.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did Ka'aukai die?" she asks before he has any chance of recovering.

"She...uh...she was two years older than me. She left to do the island challenge…" He trails off again.

"And died?" Bonnibel prompts, so he has to say what really happened.

"No, she didn't, she just...she, I think she came back home once but I didn't get to see her. She's on one of the other islands now. She…" He takes a pained breath and explains, "She didn't, she just gave up on the island challenge, and, now she won't come home, but nobody wants her to anyway, her parents, they're so embarrassed they pretend they don't have a daughter at all now, and…"

There's tightness in his arms. He's clenching his hands under the table where he thinks she can't tell.

"...I thought she was a great trainer. But she wasn't. She didn't work hard like she should've and now she's probably just another...if she ever does come back it'll only be to cause trouble."

"That's so awful!" Bonnibel says. "How could anyone think it's okay to...to just give up and run away! I can't believe she'd just let everyone down like that! No wonder her parents are mortified!"

"M-maybe she did try." Lillie's voice is louder than it could be.

"Then why didn't she do it like she was supposed to? It's not like it's impossible, you know. Hau and I have only been doing this a couple days and we've already beaten the first trial and soon we'll do the grand trial. It won't even take us a week!" And if unofficially Hau's been at it quite a while longer to be even this good, well, Hau will never say that out loud so no voice will ever contradict Bonnibel's. "And it's not like anybody made her stop. She chose to give up." And she stares at Lillie and she says, "It's like everyone I've talked to says. They said lots of the kids now are lazy and ungrateful and want everything handed to them. They don't listen to their parents like they should." As Lillie wilts, Bonnibel looks to Hau. "Right? It's not like this is supposed to be impossible for people!"

He nods. "Yeah. Yeah, everybody's supposed to complete it." And if that's not quite the same thing… Alola really is such a nice place to be.

"But anyway, what were you saying before? You were looking for a pokemon at the school, what happened?"

And after a moment he picks up the story again. It's like the digression never happened, except for how there's a sharp reduction in detail, how he moves quickly into another one.

Bonfires and scary stories make Lillie light up. "That sounds so fun! I was never allowed to hear ghost stories. You're so brave!"

"They're not all that scary, really… They sound like a bigger deal than they really are. I can tell you one -"

"No, no thank you," Lillie says. "I...I wanted to, a lot. But - but I think now, I think my mother was right about me, about it being a bad idea, that I'd just have nightmares." She pushes a tiny laugh through her throat. "Just a kid's fairy tale is enough to give me nightmares, it turns out…"

"Oh?" And Bonnibel asks, "What story?"

"It's, oh, it was this story that my - that I had read to me when I was little, The Glaceon and the Leafeon. Do you know it?"

Hau shakes his head. Bonnibel says, "Probably by another name. What happens in it?" And she's right, of course.

In the story, a rich glaceon gets a beautiful leafeon to be his wife and takes her back to his big castle. He gives her keys to every room, because there are of course rooms and doorknobs and locks and keys because it's a stupid story, and he tells her to never open one, and of course she does.

The version Lillie tells has been gutted of the guts. As soon as the leafeon puts the key in the door, the key gives her away by shouting, so she never sees what's beyond or has to try to clean off the blood.

"So she runs to the top of the tower, crying out for help, and she sends a solar beam up into the sky, and her brother sees it and rushes to rescue her, and oh, her brother was a flareon, I should've said that... But her brother comes and defeats the glaceon and saves her."

"That's not such a bad ending," Hau says uncertainly.

"I liked the ending...but when I dream about it, I never get to the ending. I'm just there in the castle. Sometimes I haven't even done anything wrong yet, but I know I will, I know I'll open the wrong door, and then... I don't know...it's just a children's story, and I never used to be scared even though I was listening to them right before bed..."

The thought of the story Bonnibel doesn't care about is still grating against the inside of her skull, tangling with Lillie's stupid one about pokemon having castles and keys, and she says, "I do know that one after all. I know a couple of other versions too, and they all have the same good end. Maybe if you know another one you'll remember the ending better."

"Oh, maybe," Lillie says hopefully.

"Well," Bonnibel began, "once there was a maiden. One day when she was by the edge of the forest, a pokemon appeared." It'd been a thishrike more often than not, but no one remembers pokemon once they're gone. "It was an evil pyroar. This evil pyroar leapt upon the maiden and said, 'You shall come back to my home and be my servant, to do all the things I cannot easily do myself.' The maiden said, 'I do not want to go with you, or serve you. I am happy here.' But the evil pyroar said, 'If you will not, I will eat you!' and so the evil pyroar kidnapped her and stole her away to its home deep in the woods. There, it gave her her labors. She was to spend each morning sweeping the floor clean, each day cooking a meal from the larder to set on the table for it, and each evening brushing its fur and weaving from grasses fresh mats and baskets. Though the evil pyroar did not eat her so long as she obeyed, it treated her cruelly, working her all day and then forcing her to sleep on the floor and eat only the scraps of its meals, and she cried bitterly each night. However, the girl had eight older brothers. When she disappeared, they began to search everywhere for her. As it grew late one night, they smelled smoke and cooked food, and believed they were close to the home of some brave hermit who lived within the woods. They decided to go there to pass the night and ask for any news, but they soon found instead a cave with a pyroar. The pyroar had a glistening coat and was devouring the meal they'd smelled. Then it cried, 'Servant! Brush me!' and the maiden slunk from her corner and began to brush it. Immediately the brothers recognized their sister. Furious, they fell upon the evil kidnapping pyroar with their spears and arrows. They returned home to their parents with their sister and the skin of the evil pyroar, and all who saw them were pleased to see that the world was in order again."

There's no recognition in either of their eyes, because the world is in their order, isn't it? But that wasn't the point. The story of another hapless girl rescued has only made Lillie's face sadder, and Bonnibel presses her guess: "See? It's got the same ending. However bad the situation, however hopeless and helpless the girl is, she always gets found and saved by her brothers, so there's nothing to be afraid of. That's how fairy tales go!"

"Yeah," Lillie says, and twists her face up into an approximation of a smile. "You're right."

Then Bonnibel asks for seconds, delighting Hau.

And before long it's dark and late and children have to be in bed. Kids in Alola don't travel really, do they? But then, there's so little here. If you can't leave, and really, how different are the Alolan people from the Alolan meowth, then you'd want to ration out your world.

Bonnibel is from another place, so she'll keep following the rules of there, where a pokemon trainer is someone independent. If Bonnibel wants to sleep in the sun and walk at night, that's her choice. And if Bonnibel didn't sleep in the sun today, she can still choose to walk at night. Who'll see Bonnibel both ways?

At the beach near Iki Town, there's hollows, and stone like this should form deep and winding caves. And it's dark, so who'll see Bonnibel at all, if she skips her way down the cliffside to the sand?

Bonnibel's eyes are dry and starting to scrape, but if she keeps them closed a while the lacrimal coating should refresh, at least enough for another day. And she's tired of sitting, but blundering around in caves is just what people do, so whether her eyes are exposed to the dark - well, there's no rule either way. Bonnibel is just the sort of person who thinks it's better to close your eyes in the darkness, she decides.

The rock is rough under her splayed fingers, with all sorts of interesting dips. In some spots she can reach all around and in others the ceiling is beyond her grasp.

A few zubat who aren't out for the night squeak, a crackle of illness in their breath.

" **What is…** "

" **Must be hunting.** "

" **Can't be, those can't hear in the dark.** "

" **Well they're never here for any other reason…** "

" **They are sometimes. Maybe it's...gleaning, yes, wasn't that it? The smaller ones move and shout when they find things in the mud.** "

And there is mud, thick and full of sharp slivers. She wades into one of the deep puddles of salt water, waves her hands about to wash them. There's a gap under her feet, a tunnel too small for Bonnibel to fit that connects to the ocean.

She could slip off her shoe, feel the sides against the sole of her foot. Could stretch down to know the shape of it as far as Bonnibel can reach. Could reach further than that, even, it's not like there's anyone to see - but, that's cheating, Bonnibel can't do that, she won't do that.

It's not like it's something that was given up. Only Bonnibel gets to be here in the first place.

A barboach taps her leg then swims away.

More distantly, a golduck hisses very softly, " **Stay quiet, stay quiet, if you're quiet it won't find you.** " He must have a gaggle of babies in another pool.

"It's so dark!" Bonnibel announces, splashing back onto the damp ground. She takes a deep breath, tasting the faintest hint of those meadow flowers...it must connect somewhere above. "I'd hate to try to have a pokemon battle here! I guess I won't have any choice if any pokemon attack me though! I sure hope they don't run up to me."

But Melemele pokemon continue to make all the wrong choices.

" **It must be weak!** "

" **No you idiot, don't -** "

Dirt and rock splatters against her legs. A diglett squeaks, " **Human! Run, human! Leave us all be! I am very powerful!** "

Bonnibel makes the rattata get her.

When the little red dot fades, she picks up her newest capture. Muffled by the ground and nearly drowned out by the pokedex's chatter, another diglett sobs.

" **You're so good at throwing, lady,** " her rattata chatters companionably, butting against her ankle. Bonnibel leans over and rubs the top of her head. The rattata's squeaks are looser sounding than usual, the roots of her teeth likely bruised from biting into steel. " **Got'er even in the dark, one throw! You musta spent years and years just practicing throwing pokeballs.** "

From above, more faint squeaking, " **What belly-lickers rattata are…** "

" **Better than being a snot-face!** " the rattata squeaks loudly. " **Just cuz I got eyes doesn't mean my ears aren't as good as yours, and I got a nose too! You all're gonna get sicker and sicker and your lungs are gonna rot out.** "

" **You don't know anything.** "

" **I know humans say so! Say it's an epidemic. Say they dunno if they even wanna fix you losers or if they'll just replace you with better zubat from some other place after you all die. Least I got somebody's belly to lick. Nobody even wants you.** "

Have they checked that other populations can fight off the infection, or did they just guess? Well, it's unlikely to come up. Usually, what finishes off a species is people, and Alolans don't seem particularly interested. If there's no one hunting the stronger zubat, those can repopulate after the rest are dead.

In theory, anyway… The other diglett is still whimpering beneath the ground. Without hunting, without being used to loss, death itself can be infectious.

She keeps moving along the walls. She finds her way back into the open, another walled pit like the one with the trial crystals but bigger. Why is the other one sacred and not this?

Especially when… But maybe this isn't what they want in their pet mascots.

It's acceptable, to try to hide. Allowable. Pokemon hide from people. People catch pokemon anyway, it's futile in the end, but pokemon can go a long time hiding, if they try hard enough. And perhaps it's better to curl unmoving in the muck until screaming lungs give way to deafness and the very idea of air is forgotten.

Bonnibel is a person and can go where she pleases, so she heads back into the darkness of the caves.

When light starts to intrude, she walks out onto the sand. She puts on another coat of sunscreen. The sun hasn't quite risen, and it seems like most of the tourists will be rising sometime well after that, so she flops into the water and swims.

She can't go too far. She could climb back out on the far rocks, but to slide into the water of the other side… No, certainly not. In another place, upon reaching another size...maybe she'll do it when she comes back some decades from now, before she leaves again. There's different rules for adults.

It's nice just swimming for the sake of it. The drag against her limbs and her clothing, the way air feels thick inside her chest as she holds her breath.

The gyarados from before is swimming as well. She doesn't get near to Bonnibel. The scarier a pokemon is, the better they've learned not to do anything that might upset people. Bonnibel is in open water, apparently vulnerable...but the gyarados would be killed for it, and there would still be ten thousand Bonnibels. Bonnibel could catch her children, sit down on the sand and split them apart to dig the raw flesh from their bones to eat, and she would stay beneath the water.

She hopes the gyarados doesn't feel it's cowardice. It was never really a choice in the first place.

As the sun rises, there's more people on the beach, so Bonnibel swims in again.

One woman has a pair of corsola out in the shallows. They look less happy than she'd expect.

"Relax, you guys!" the woman says. "Those Aether guys just cleaned up this area last week. There's no mareanie around."

Huh, so those are in this ocean now as well? Well, it doesn't really matter. If they're not seen as Alolan pokemon, they're irrelevant to her intended audience at the trial.

Bonnibel's own interest is in breakfast. She's not sure if whatever path connects to the flower meadow is large enough for her to travel through, so instead she makes her way along the beach and over the rock wall to return to Hau'oli City. If she heads up from there she can be back into the more forested area and out of the sun long before noon.

In the end, it's the graveyard she stays at for the day. Ghosts are never particularly good at learning to avoid a threat and Bonnibel's still working so hard to find just the right one, so it's a good place to keep training her pokemon. She brings the snacks the men were eating yesterday, musubi. Apparently the meat comes with all sorts of added flavors, far more than she's seen elsewhere, so she buys a variety platter and eats her way through them. The differences are rather mild, especially when set against the processed salty sameness of the blended meat, and it's a shame the seaweed they're wrapped in doesn't come in similar novelty flavors to allow for combinations. When she's done, she lies beneath one of the trees, her pyukumuku pillow under her head and her pyukumuku lying against her cheek. She dumps her water bottle over the pokemon and then closes her eyes.

"Why's a kid like you have to worry about moisturizing? Hey, hey kid?"

She peels the pyukumuku off. Another of those kids in dirty black and white is crouched next to her. "Moisturizing?" the boy repeats. "Cuz you're kinda young. Who told you to be worrying about wrinkles?"

"I was napping," she says, putting as much irritation as she can into the word.

"Wha! Homie, you shouldn't be doing that here!"

"I can do what I want," Bonnibel says, getting up.

"Can and should are pretty different is all!" He stands as well, backing up. His hands are lifted, palms facing her, like he's trying to calm a spooked pokemon, like he thinks she's afraid of being hurt, like he thinks she'd fall for it anyway, like he thinks she's too stupid to know people just do that to get close enough to grab.

"Maybe you have to be concerned about that," Bonnibel tells him icily, "but I actually know what I'm doing in a pokemon battle."

"No, I mean -"

"I don't care what some failure worries about." She walks past him, shouldering him out of the way.

Is she violating a rule about how things are divided? But it didn't seem like what the boy was driving at, and they don't make their pokemon sleep outside, so she doubts people have to sleep inside. Certainly the boy himself looks like he's spent more than a few nights in the dirt.

She supposes it wouldn't surprise her, with everything else she's seen, that they don't do much camping the way other regions do, so maybe it's considered a safety issue. But it doesn't matter if every last person in the region tattles to her mother, because her mom's familiar with the Kanto way of doing things.

And her mom might like it better if Bonnibel kept coming back after becoming officially a trainer...but Bonnibel's mother knows there's only so much you can ask the world, and she's already asked for more than most. Pushing things further would only be tempting fate.

Whatever. If not sleeping in a room at the pokecenter makes the other adults around here like Bonnibel a little less, it doesn't matter. She can still have about as much fun showing them up if they don't love her, and there are other rules she can follow.

She's got a bit less than a day to train. She'll sleep through Hau's noon battle. After all, Bonnibel sleeps during the day. It's not like she needs to see the battle to know what'll happen, and it'll let Hala feel a bit more confident, a bit more hopeful it'll go the way he want.

" **This isn't fair,** " chirps the diglett. Bonnibel may not use her, in the end. She's not sure if she's allowed to pull out a full team of six, and she's also not sure if she'll need them. " **It isn't, it isn't. You tricked me.** "

Bonnibel is partway through an overloaded bowl of ice shavings and colored sugar syrup, enjoying the mix of intense flavor and slippery pockets of chill nothing, when an adult approaches her.

"Hey, kid! You're a local, right? From around here?"

Well, she has the stone around her wrist, the bauble dangling from her bag, the pyukumuku against her neck and the fluffy-haired diglett still sniffling by her feet. Still - surely there's no lack of locals who can be identified at greater distances.

"I've got a favor I want to ask someone like you! Please, you've gotta help me!"

"All right," Bonnibel says, because if this were a good idea he'd probably lead with the request, but how could Bonnibel know such a thing?

"Oh, thanks, kid! That's the Alola spirit! You're all so nice here!" Bonnibel smiles wider at him. "I'm actually here on my honeymoon, and my beautiful bride has completely fallen for this pokemon you have here called crabrawler." He's got those wide fixed eyes people always think make them look sincere, and when Bonnibel nods agreeably, still smiling, he continues, "She just can't get enough of its bobbing walk and its funny little face!"

Ah, and there may be no lack of locals, but maybe he meant a local who looks like Bonnibel… Someone who spent time elsewhere or had parents who did, who would more likely be open to…

"...trade for it?"

He's undoubtedly got several to offer, but Bonnibel doesn't care, so she agrees to his initial hitmonchan. She doesn't even give him the chance to hint about extra gifts for being so helpful, just bats her eyes about how of course she wants his very real bride to be happy, how she loves her crabrawler so much and she's sure they will just as much, until he's almost ready to call the whole thing off. Then they trade. Bonnibel wishes him and his unseen wife the very best before skipping off.

Then it's back to training her pokemon before the final battle. She stops around nine and heads to a pokecenter to make sure they'll be in good shape.

She wakes up an hour before dusk and makes her way to Iki Town.

"There you are!" Kukui tells her.

"Here I am."

"My Bonnibel," Bonnibel's mom says, and hugs her tight.

Hau comes over, his look of mixed fear and excitement telling her he won even before he opens his mouth. He babbles at her about the pokemon he faced, how she should look out for this and that, how after she wins they can go to Akala together. Hala should know not to let Hau out of his reach.

At Kukui's side, Lillie manages to pipe up, "You know… I was really impressed seeing how you battled with your pokemon, against those scary kids outside the malasada store… I'm not a trainer, so I'm sure I don't really understand how hard it must have been to do that, or the trial, or any of it...but even I think it's a great achievement. And even back when you weren't yet a pokemon trainer, Bonnibel…you were able to save Nebby. You were chosen by your pokemon so quickly… I understand why now."

And then, Hala is there, too late to keep Hau's mouth shut. "I haven't had the chance to congratulate you on your trial in the Verdant Cavern," he booms. "Good work! And now, are you ready to battle the kahuna of Melemele Island? You think you and your pokemon are ready for me, Bonnibel?"

She smiles and says, "I'll do my best, Kahuna Hala." And she steps up onto the wooden platform again. There's no sign of damage from Hau's battle earlier.

Hala tells her that she can use all of her pokemon and this will be a z-powered battle, since she already possesses a ring to use her crystal with. "Entrusted with a sparking stone by Tapu Koko!" he reminds everyone, as if she isn't wholly capable of surpassing however high he makes the expectations. Bonnibel smiles and agrees that's such a good idea. Of all the things he'd sacrifice for Hau, of course it'd include Hau himself. Bonnibel is so glad Hala thinks she's worthy of facing him like that, she says. She wouldn't want him to go easy on her. She wants him to use his most powerful moves, to go all out.

And when Hala does - she has her pokemon swapped in before either of them realize what's happened. The pyukumuku doesn't even have a chance to scream as the attack hits, and then clever little prodigy Bonnibel has both fainted one of Hala's pokemon in a single hit and made him waste his precious special move.

As unimpressive as the rest of Alola's trainers have been, she's sure Hala is capable of winning against her inexperienced and disadvantaged team. But either he has the restraint not to throw his very best onto the field or he didn't take them with him today. She'd guess the latter. Real restraint would be to accept defeat and send out his weakest rather than hand her more chances to compare so favorably against his grandson. But no, it's primeape where Hau fought mankey, even though a trainer of his caliber ought to be able to tell that just isn't going to be enough. The wood is covered in scuffs and gouges, and she wonders how long that'll last, how long the evidence will be displayed for everyone to see. How fast can Hala get a new platform?

They cheer when his last pokemon goes down.

"...Hmmph! The results come as no surprise to me. What a fine trainer...and what fine pokemon, too!"

There's a cackle above, wordless.

"Ho! And our mighty Tapu Koko agrees! Hmmph! Perhaps Tapu Koko is hoping that a day may come when you will grow strong enough to battle it as well..." He nods. "Accept this crystal! It allows trainers to share their power with their partner pokemon!" And then he does a bunch of gestures while telling her to pay close attention. When she tunes back in, he says, "Now to see if you can pour your heart into something that cannot be seen but is very much real. As you continue on your island challenge, consider what makes up the people and pokemon that you meet: both what you can see and what you cannot. You will surely meet Tapu Koko again someday."

That last bit throws her, and there isn't enough false cheer for it to simply be thrown out to pretend they're friends. He means it. Then she remembers the threat to the kids. A deity, a guardian, an untouchable uncatchable pokemon...a pokemon of exceptions and allowed exceptions, and what would be expected to happen to a human who overstepped its bounds? A newcomer, say, someone who didn't know the rules?

He goes on, "I've got an idea! You got along so well with Tauros, and you're so good with pokemon. How about I set you up so you can ride my tauros whenever you'd like? No reason why he shouldn't get to enjoy the island challenge, too!" and he gives her a device as he explains the islands' system of loaning out certain species as if this isn't common knowledge in every tourist brochure. More interesting is that it seems they don't all draw from a common pool. She wonders when he did this. He really wasn't expecting to lose...was this a final contingency, or was he planning to give this speech after a rematch? Or maybe he'd have given it to her after a loss as well. "I'll take care of all the little things you'll need in order to ride a pokemon, Bonnibel!" Not that the tauros would have similar dispensation for murder, of course, he'd become steak and hamburger and mountain oysters, but that's a minor loss compared to everything Hala's given up already. "Have a little romp around Alola with Tauros. I'm sure you'll be charmed by him!"

Bonnibel thanks him effusively for his gift, which is not only so kind and thoughtful but shows so much trust in her abilities, and of course she's so happy about that she's loud enough for the people around to hear clearly. She might even bother to try it, though she doesn't see the point. The last thing she wants is to rush through a place already so cramped. Walking will be fine.

Ah, but maybe - "Let me try right now!" she shouts, in front of him and everyone, and she hits the button.

To his credit, he doesn't back down. She can see in his eyes that he fears what's coming, although she doesn't know if it's the violence itself or the fact it'd be so much more obviously his fault than this happening at some random point later.

The tauros hasn't moved yet, still confused by what's going on and the clearly unfamiliar gear he's wrapped in, and the noise of the crowd disorients him further. There are a lot of things she could do. Of them, she choses hopping into the saddle.

He bucks. Of course he bucks. "Wow!" Bonnibel cries, like she's delighted by the carnival ride. It's slightly different with the saddle and the wrap around his midsection, so she's not touching any part of him directly, but it's still easy to guess how he'll move. So easy she could stay on properly, but she lets herself lift and slide, just enough to make it look like she narrowly avoided going flying, enough she can hear the silent horror of the crowd holding their breath. He doesn't buck a second time. He's already calming again, having only been startled, and he knows her voice and smell. She leans far out so he can see her too. "Hi again!"

Then it's time to slip back down, because her mother is rushing through the crowd. She'd forgotten that part of it… But Bonnibel can run into her mom's arms well before her mother can reach Hala, and she can start bubbling about how she won she won she won! ...and yes, that defused it for now. There'll be words later with Hala, and maybe the next time that button's hit a different tauros will come out, but that won't be Bonnibel's problem.

None of it will be, because Bonnibel is headed for Akala.

"Alright, champ!" Kukui says. "It's not as good as a z-crystal, but I got a little something for you, too! A TM!" He hands it over. "False swipe is a move that will leave your opponent with 1 HP when you attack."

"That's so kind of you," Bonnibel says with a smile.

He grins back. "Keep on catching more and more pokemon, yeah, and tell Rotom all about it! And now that you've both passed the grand trial, it's time to move on! Tomorrow morning, head on down to the mariana in Hau'oli City. Oh yeah!" He punches the air, then shouts, "All right, time to get the boat ready." Really? For such a short distance, and with Alola having trained pokemon to travel on? Well, Bonnibel has no reason to refuse a chance to travel with her friends… "Lillie, you gonna help me clean it?"

She nods. "Of course." Of course. Kukui heads off, but Lillie remains. Behind her, Nebby floats in plain sight. "Um... I actually wanted to ask a favor of you first, Bonnibel. If that's all right?"

"Sure."

"You see... Nebby is... Its real home is far away from here. And I want to help it get home. It's like I told you before... " Lillie manages to get her eyes off the ground for a moment. "Nebby saved my life once when I was in trouble. Now I want to save it! I feel like there's not much I can do on my own, since I'm not a pokemon trainer..." There's the correct solution to that, but the one Lillie goes with is, "But if I had a real trainer like you helping me, Bonnibel, then maybe…" Bonnibel waits. "But I probably shouldn't ask a near stranger to help, right? I know it's just my own wish and it has nothing to do with you..."

"Of course I'll help!" Bonnibel assures her.

"Oh, thank you so much! I'm so glad! I really didn't know what else to do! Then I suppose... The two of us will be heading to the next island as well!"

" **Yes!** "

Lillie turns, eyes wide. "Nebby! Get back in the bag!"

Bonnibel definitely wants to stick close to help her friend Lillie. Especially with so many disasters looming.

But for now… She heads back home with her mom, to drop off the meowth. "How darling!" her mother says.

The two pokemon regard each other. The new one turns his head to the side almost immediately and mews, " **You've nothing to worry about from me. She made it clear she'll put me back to battling if I cause trouble.** "

Her mother's meowth steps forward and licks the side of his face, smoothing ruffled fur, then meows, " **Then she won't come back for you otherwise, so you can relax. She sounds harsh when she talks but she does just what she says. My own human's not interested in making her pokemon fight these days, and it won't be hard to run away if you want to later. But I wouldn't mind some company.** "

"Oh, she thinks the new one's her kitten!" her mom says. "I'm so glad they're getting along!"

"Me too," Bonnibel says.

And then she's out the door again, because she's only won the very first grand trial, and she still has a lot of training to do if she's going to be a champion!

She passes a lot of the the night in Hao'oli City, fighting the various tourists who are similarly too excited to sleep. As the night loses its luster and the last trainers fade away, she makes her way into the trees.

The convenience store is open, and there's a gaggle of adults buying food. "What are you doing up so early?" they ask.

"I wanted to get going on training my pokemon!" she says, all bright eyes and brighter smile, a heaped plate of roasted wingull chunks in her hands. Then, like she doesn't know the hours cleaners keep, "What about you? How come you're getting breakfast so early?"

And in the morning, which Bonnibel guesses correctly to be several hours past what she considers morning, she meets up with Kukui at the docks.

The boat's a boat.

Bonnibel would never do anything risky, of course, Bonnibel would never do anything dangerous, but the fact of the matter is she's not going to drown regardless. It doesn't matter what sort of boat she rides in.

"Hey, Prof, are you sure this old thing's really seaworthy?" It's more of a concern for Hau, so he probably shouldn't be treating it like it's just a thing to tease Kukui about.

"I quite like that it has a sense of history..." Lillie says, as if something barely twenty years old counts just because it's in shabby condition.

" **I wanna see!** "

"Nebby! Get back in the bag! We're still on Melemele!"

Hau stumbles at the motion of the boat. Not even that much experience, then? Even timid Lillie only wobbles once before planting her feet properly.

No halfway competent adult should let anyone stand right in the front where the railing stops, but Kukui says nothing to Hau rushing right up to the edge, so Bonnibel stands to the other side to enjoy the view. Lillie stays back in the more secure middle.

"Come on, grandma! Kick it up a notch!" Hau crows.

Lillie replies primly, "If we push the boat much harder than this, we may all end up at the bottom of the ocean." One hand holds tight to her broad-brimmed hat and the other rests on Nebby's bag.

"Ha ha ha! You're probably just worried about your silly hat flying off!"

Even if he doesn't understand how the size and shape of a boat relates to speed any more than he understands sunburn...is Hau truly unaware of the sound of the already laboring engine? Bonnibel grins at him. They'll have to get a boat and go out together sometime, without Kukui's minimal safety concerns or Lillie's knowledge. Whatever happens can't be considered Bonnibel's fault when Hau's the one who lives here.

"I wonder what kind of island Akala is, huh?" Hau says, grinning obliviously back. "Seeing all of Alola for myself is half the fun of doing the island challenge! Isn't this just the best, Bonnibel?!"

"Yeah!" she agrees. It's a terrifically short trip.

Though, apparently just long enough for Hau to be back to stumbling when he gets onto the dock. "Land ahoy!" he shouts gleefully.

"Isn't it a bit late to declare 'land ahoy' after you've already arrived onshore?" Lillie really should concern herself more with the fact Nebby is hovering in plain sight.

Hau contorts with such dramatic affront he nearly overbalances. It brings to mind an arcanine tripping over his own paws returning a play bow, so desperate at the chance. "What a stick in the sand!" he howls. "Help me out here, Bonnibel! It was funny, right?"

"It was supposed to be funny?" Bonnibel asks in the guileless voice of someone who wasn't really paying attention.

Hau hmphs, puts his hands on his hips, and narrows his eyes into a death glare. An opera star would tell him to rein it in. Then he turns. "What about you, Professor?"

"The land is certainly ahoy, oh boy!" Hau isn't the only one who doesn't talk much with people these days.

" **The sounds repeated!** " Nebby peeps, shaking back and forth.

"Nebby!" Lillie gasps.

It's at this point more people show up. Kukui must have the same opinion of Lillie's antics as Bonnibel does, because he just reassures her that these particular people are no harm to Nebby. Actually keeping the pokemon hidden is a well-lost cause.

Akala's kahuna is only thirty-three, and she seems quite practiced at the role. Is it normal for people to become kahunas so young? She chides him for lacking a shirt, like the fact the supposed lab coat is three sizes too small and lacking buttons entirely is less of a problem.

And the other one with her...Ilima had everyone talking about him like he was special, but this new trial captain is barely seventeen.

When they leave again, Kukui remarks, "I'm sure she wanted to come to see that you made it here all right… But she'll never admit it to you!"

And neither Lillie or Hau seem to think anything of the implication there, so Bonnibel must believe their boat ride was perfectly safe as well.

For some reason, the pokedex chimes in now with, " **You've made it to Akala, clever girl! This means a whole new island pokedex!** You've made it to Akala, clever girl! This means a whole new island pokedex!" With such young kahunas and trial captains, it seems like Kukui might actually have a chance, so she won't be bothering with that. She's trained her pokemon well enough on wild ones already.

Kukui himself tells them to head for Route 4 to get to the first trial, or the nearest one, or the easiest one. Bonnibel doesn't see any point in asking for clarification and Hau ducks out completely: "Shoots, I know where I'm going first, and that is straight to the pokemon center!" then, like he's trying to make excuses about the fact he's making excuses, he goes on to wonder about Akala malasadas.

"Maybe I'll see about some shopping of my own…" Lillie says, and sure, if she can't even navigate a place she's been living for months, why not just accept getting lost somewhere new? "And I should find out about the ruins for Nebby's sake, too…"

Should Bonnibel be helpful? If Melemele's the same as here, there don't seem to be many people interested in whatever ruins their gods make their homes in, so there's only the more boring disasters waiting there. This busy city, with Nebby peeping in her bag, " **Come on come on!** " though? A much better class of calamities. In fact…

"Hau, why don't we go with Lillie to the store?" she says. "This is all so big and new, it's probably easy to get lost, but the rotomdex Professor Kukui gave me has a map so we can find our way without a problem!" Hau didn't cry talking about the other girl, but he's had time to accept that isn't allowed. Will he cry to lose Lillie too, or will he only clench his fists and echo whatever condemnation Bonnibel choses to fling?

Lillie's eyes shine as she stumbles over her thanks. They turn out to be wasted, though. Nebby keeps thrashing and shouting from the bag. She finally ducks into an alley just before Nebby pushes free.

"This little fellow will hardly sit still…" Lillie says mournfully. "I think Nebby might be interested in visiting the Ruins of Life. Apparently they house the sacred guardian of Akala Island. A creature called Tapu Lele."

" **There's another one?!** "

"Tapu Lele…" Hau repeats. "It's supposed to be very peaceful. One time, it stopped a war by healing all the soldiers with its scales."

That's surely as true as Lillie's story with a bloodless screaming key. "Wow, really?" Bonnibel says. "How wonderful!"

"Yeah! But unfortunately, Tapu Lele appears even less than Tapu Koko…"

"Maybe people wanted its scales too much, and, and it couldn't give that many."

" **And it hurt.** "

"Oh no, nah, if people or pokemon get too much exposure to the scales, then Tapu Lele's blessing becomes Tapu Lele's curse! Uh, Tutu said once...he said that, the tapu don't like it when people rely on them."

Of course. Well, it's only fair, isn't it, when no one else could either. "They're above that sort of thing?" Bonnibel says.

And Hau just nods and continues, "Tapu Lele's powers are a miracle, and part of a miracle is it doesn't happen to you again, or even once for everybody. Everybody gets old and dies in the end, and that's how life works. At least for people, I mean, since the tapu don't…"

Most things don't.

"Well...Well, Nebby! We can't go there right now! I have an appointment I have to go to, and there isn't time to go to the ruins and back first." She pauses and looks at them. "I wondered if you'd like to come with us when we go to visit the ruins... I mean...Hau, you're the grandson of a kahuna, so you'd know about them, and little Nebby here seems to like you quite a bit, Bonnibel..."

" **Isn't about like,** " Nebby peeps, bobbing up and down.

"I'll be at Tide Song Hotel until the day after tomorrow if you decide you want to come. I'm supposed to be meeting someone there... Someone very important to me..." This missing mother? But no, from how Lillie's spoken of mothers, Bonnibel would expect her to be fretting over her appearance for smudges and creases, not thinking about buying clothes to her own taste. "You can go to the pokecenter. I'll be all right. I can see the building from here, after all." She points at the blue top of a building a street or two away. "Even I shouldn't be able to lose my way. I think."

Nebby sneezes, " **You should ask for help…** "

Bonnibel...well, surely Bonnibel defers to her friend's estimation of herself. "I'm sure you won't have any trouble," Bonnibel agrees. "It's easy at such a short distance."

"And you! I'll have you stay in your bag, mister."

Nebby coughs and wobbles in Bonnibel's direction. " **You'd beat them up so who cares!** " She smiles widely back. Nebby turns to Lillie again and screws her face up in refusal, but Lillie puffs her own cheeks and puts her hands on her hips in a matching tantrum. " **Okay! Fine! I know!** " Nebby squeaks, and squeezes back into the bag. " **I know it's because you're scared for me…** "

"Nebby, you didn't see, but - we have to be careful because there's a group of terrible people around who try to steal pokemon. That group called Team Skull. We need to be careful if we want to escape the notice of such a collection of villains... Isn't that right, Bonnibel?"

Bonnibel nods. "There's nothing worse than pokemon thieves!" Lillie just smiles back gratefully, like she can't hear any threat to the words.

As Lillie leaves, the pokedex forces its way out of Bonnibel's own bag and makes a bunch of noise about exploring the beautiful building as well. Or...well, maybe that's unfair.

"Rotom like buildings, don't they."

"Like haunting them!" Hau says like it's a punchline.

Haunting's a nicer term than infesting, but then, they don't yet infest, do they. They're still rare, and you have to be commonplace to be vermin. In another...hm, fifty years, maybe.

"What do you think, Hau, will you come help Lillie out tomorrow?"

"Absolutely!"

"It's a date then!" Bonnibel says blithely. "Well, Professor Kukui said to find the trial by heading up Route Four, so that's where I'm going. You?"

Of course not. Hau makes his excuses and then Bonnibel can proceed alone.

She finds her way out of the city and to a quieter spot, and she recalls the pyukumuku from her shoulder and Popplio from her bag.

Bonnibel hits the ride button again. It's still the same tauros. He shakes his head but then does a little bow, ready to let her on.

"No," she says. She touches his leg instead, moving her ear close. She guesses the issue's near the bottom but she starts at the shoulder to be sure she doesn't miss anything, her fingers moving down a millimeter at a time.

He goes stiff. In battle, showing pain's only giving an opponent a target, and for a show pokemon, such imperfection loses points with the judges. He's been both, she'd say, though not long enough yet. He does very well at pretending under her obvious scrutiny, but acting like a statue of flesh doesn't hide the sound of grinding as she flexes the hoof or the feel of the edge of the bone chip. So it is something real. How long has that been there? Since his last trainer, or the one before that? It's not like pokemon break their legs every battle, and without it being broken, no one would check closely enough.

She sighs, lowering the hoof. This isn't really how things are supposed to be done. If he isn't old enough to handle it himself yet... Even then, he only has to put on a limp when he's at a pokecenter. But she can't fault him for trying to follow the rules he'd learned. "Tauros," she says, one hand letting go and sliding along the uneven ground. Bonnibel's other hand keeps gripping his leg. "Hala made you my ride, and I've decided I'm mad at him over what I think his reasons were. Okay? It's just because of that, so don't expect this sort of thing."

Bonnibel's hand slams the point of a rock just above the hoof.

It's a good thing Bonnibel wasn't hurt when Hala's tauros stumbled and broke his leg in a hole. She hits the button again and sends him back.


	5. There once were pokemon

Even coated in both sunscreen and makeup, Bonnibel really shouldn't be wandering around under a high sun. She makes her way toward thicker forest, only to find someone else had a similar idea. On a fallen tree trunk is a boy sitting with his elbows on his knees and his hands tight on either side of his bowed head. Next to him is an agitated krabby.

" **You do know! You do know! Stop acting like you don't even know my name! How can you be like this?! You can understand me and I know you can un-** "

"Hey! Bothered by hearing all that from your pokemon?"

The boy startles so violently he nearly pulls loose from his own skin. "What?!"

" **He should be!** "

She points to his chattering krabby as she trots over to him. "All that clicky-clack frothing," she says. "What a headache you must be getting listening to that meaningless noise, am I right?"

"R-right. Yeah." Under her wide friendly gaze he's gone almost as pale as Bonnibel. If it wasn't for his bright eyes and shallow breaths he could pass for a corpse. "Exactly." It's such a good look on him.

" **It isn't meaningless!** " the krabby froths. " **It isn't and he knows it!** "

"Look at her go! It's like she thinks either of us care about the racket. Doesn't she know people don't understand that garbage?"

The boy chokes out an attempt at an agreeing laugh.

"Well, I guess there were rumors about some freak in Unova," Bonnibel says companionably, watching him flinch. "Whatever the hell that thing was, anyway. I mean, just chuck a pokeball at it, right, it's obviously not actually a person. You know? Well," she continues, "I've heard people say it was some guy pretending, since the whole thing was a scam anyway, but ugh, who'd be willing to even fake being something like that? Can you even imagine having to pretend that you're like, basically the same as some pokemon, no matter how much you were paid? Not for all the money in Unova!"

"Ab-absolutely," he manages, gulping like he can't breathe. He runs his hands through his strawberry blond hair, nails scraping deep into the soft flesh of his scalp. "I...I heard there's this pokemon that lives in Unova that makes people hallucinate and that Team Plasma used a bunch of them. And, and nobody's seen the guy since and there's no records of anybody like that, so - so he obviously wasn't real at all. I bet the Unovans just didn't want to admit they'd fallen for something so stupid. I mean," he says, voice finally starting to smooth out as he warms to the subject, "I'd want to lie about it being convincing, if I'd been so dumb I thought somebody could talk to pokemon, because, everybody knows that's impossible."

"Yeah, ditto," Bonnibel says. She smiles even wider. "That makes so much more sense. He must've just been a mirage in the first place, because I mean, if there was anybody actually like that, you know absolutely nobody would've just let an actual freak like that wander around."

"Yeah," the boy squeaks. It sounds like he's being strangled.

"Hey, we should have a pokemon battle! Maybe your krabby's just antsy."

The krabby smacks her claws into the ground. " **I'm not! You know! You know!** " For someone so upset about being ignored, she's not very good at listening.

"Yeah." His fists clench anxiously. His palms must be getting red underneath. Probably won't break the skin, though.

It's so funny how weak their hands are that Bonnibel would laugh if Bonnibel ever felt like laughing.

She picks Popplio.

" **Hi!** "

" **No! I won't!** " The krabby turns her back to face her trainer.

"Alright, Popplio!" Bonnibel says, clapping her hands like she's excited. "Hyper voice, like we practiced!"

And he sucks in air, stands on his tail to get the right angle, and cries out.

The vibration sends the krabby off her feet. More poorly educated trainers might liken it to being struck, but it's not quite the same as a physical blow. Her shell and flesh quiver as the sound shakes it on its way through. Popplio is nowhere near the point he can make the softer internals actually splatter, but the warp and stretch of nerves is more than enough to make her legs give way. And that's what sends her face-first into the dirt. It's also what makes the dirt bow outward, giving the impression of a much harder fall than really happened, and sends up the dust that fills the air when she tries to inhale again.

Unfortunately for the krabby, hacking and thrashing on the ground only proves she's not defeated yet. "Pound!" Bonnibel says, and Popplio bounces forward and strikes her.

He hasn't used hyper voice in a battle before, so he's not expecting the compromised shell to shatter, cracks radiating out and out from a single blow. His neck twists and he stares at her to make sense of this, the horror on his face almost a mirror of the boy's, and she gives him a thumbs up and, "Great job!" so he understands he hasn't done anything wrong. Then the krabby manages to swing one claw into his side and send him tumbling.

"Uh- Bu - bubble! Bubblebeam!" the boy says.

And what else can the krabby do, really? He's not the one hurting her. Not technically. She can spend her time telling him she won't obey him, and the other pokemon will only hurt her more and more in the opening she gives.

So she spits wordless froth into Popplio, who flinches as the bubbles burst and sting around him. Bonnibel tells him to use aqua jet to get free. The krabby hammers him again with her claws, only for one leg to snap under her.

Her shell may be so damaged that another hyper voice would split it in two and send guts tumbling onto the grass, but it's the loss of an easily regenerated extremity that gets her recalled.

Popplio is quivering like jello but when Bonnibel pets his head and tells him she's so proud of what a good job he did, he honks with delight, " **I'll win everything for you!** "

"Good battle," she tells the boy. "Well, I've got to be going. Hope your weird krabby doesn't give you too much trouble!"

He chokes out a thank-you. He has to. No one is as afraid of people as a human.

So she's feeling cheery as she continues northward. The sun is bright and she slathers on more sunscreen as she walks. Does Bonnibel want to want to wear a bigger hat? Maybe. But it is somewhat windy, and dealing with a hat may be more trouble than it's worth.

Grass and leaves rustle, but pokemon make sure to keep as much distance from her as they can. The glimpses she sees show scabs and bruises, and there's the wobble of an injured leg in the path she sees one take. It's people she keeps running across, eyes scanning the sides of the path for wild pokemon to battle. She thought Melemele was cramped but apparently Akala is an even more popular destination.

At the end of the road she comes to a park entrance and a fence blocking a tiled tunnel.

The park is bare, though craggy, so going through at this shadowless hour would be unwise. The tunnel is guarded by someone letting adult tourists through...and to the right, the sea, waves beating against boulders and sandbars.

Bonnibel recalls the pyukumuku from her shoulder and heads to the water.

Do Alolan children do this? Or tourists? Someone, surely, keeps tracks of deaths, but it's likely well buried.

The current tugging at her limbs, how ahead of her is only jutting rock and open water with no place to rest… Alola is so nice, everyone says, so Bonnibel can't be expected to realize anything could be dangerous. If they didn't want her here, they should've put up a sign and not just some few extra boulders carefully designed to look natural and not to disrupt the scenic views.

" **What's a person doing here? Idiot.** "

Even more satisfying, Bonnibel finds the north side of the island to be cliff face and more rocks. Probably no bones...they'd retrieve bodies, these days.

Underwater, a wailmer squeaks, " **It's going to drown! Should we help?** "

" **It might attack us if we go near…** " the other squeaks back.

Bonnibel grins wide, relishing the burn of salt against her lips and tongue and eyes, and swims at them, one hand pulling out a red and white ball. They squeak more and swim away. Now they know better.

Well, swimming's been fun. She pops her head out of the water and tilts it back to stare up the cliff. Nobody in sight.

The only difficult part is near the top. There's plenty of people walking about, so she has to go sideways for a few dozen meters to a more overgrown area, where some bushes have overtaken the fence. A bit of wiggling and she's just another traveler walking the regular route.

She returns the pyukumuku to her shoulder and the pokemon nestles into her damp collar. The volcano looms up in the southwest now, casting long shadows, and she decides to make her way toward it.

"Oh my gosh! It's a trial-goer!" squeals a girl six months older than Bonnibel. She has both a wide hat and sunglasses. From the pinking of her skin, she overestimated how much shade the hat cast, or perhaps she was only thinking of keeping the sun from her eyes. Tomorrow will be unpleasant for her. Sad Bonnibel will miss out on that, but no doubt there'll be more chances. "Show me your pokemon! Let me see the sights!"

She has a meowth. "Oh!" Bonnibel says, making a guess. "What a cute pokemon. I caught an Alolan meowth I'd show you, but I gave it to my mother."

It's far from enough to ruin the girl's smile, but the reminder of something she wants but won't get does dim it a bit. Bonnibel's own smile is big as the moon. "But I do have...Go, Rattata!"

If the girl could win, she'd get another chance at seeing a pokemon she actually wants a picture with, but that would mean winning.

Even losing, the girl still grins into the camera and snaps a picture, chattering about how this is such an authentic Alolan experience while the rattata preens at the idea of being included. If all her pictures are happy then that's what her trip was.

Bonnibel...learned in school about the early photographs, people propping up corpses and painting open eyes over closed lids. It's all the same thing. A story the dead remain alive, a story a life was always happy.

Pictures are too briefly honest, though. Tell a story often enough and the words can echo louder than the teller's own memories, but a picture… Her friends will believe her smile as she believes theirs, but the harder she works to hide any regrets, the more she'll remember the truth behind the image of her grin.

So yeah...it's been a really nice day.

At the base of the volcano are various food and drink carts. She goes up to one advertising fish and finds a braiser cooking whole wishiwashi. She watches the woman pull more limp pokemon from a barrel reeking of alcohol. How humane of her to euthanize them before the knife slits them down the belly.

The others in line seem to be ordering as much as a dare as anything, but it's honestly delicious, the skin charred black in places and the white flesh underneath flaking from the bones.

"Come on, you still haven't taken a bite!" chides one tourist to another.

"It's weird eating something that's looking at you…"

Right, she wouldn't want to knock those loose walking. She puts her lips to the head and sucks sharply at the eye socket to pop one out, then rolls the eye gently around on her tongue, letting the melting gel coat her mouth with delicate flavor. Only when that's faded completely does she spit out hard ball of the lens.

The pathway up the volcano makes for a pleasant hike. It'd be nicer still if it wasn't such a mild gradient, such a forgivingly wide path, but it seems it's still used into the night, and she supposes that might make up the difference.

Bonnibel smiles at a trio of seventeen year olds, all laughing and hanging off each other. They smell like lucky accidents.

"Hey! Heyheyhey!" one says to her.

"Hi!"

"Hey, look she's got that thing! On a trial!"

"Hey can we borrow the thing? The trial thing? The top of the volcano?"

"They won't let us fight the guy and the pokemon!"

"We gotta have the thing!"

"Oh no, really?" Bonnibel says, moving closer.

"Yeah!" He doesn't reach for the charm dangling from her bag.

"Well…" she says, shifting a little to make the charm swing from side to side on its flimsy attachment. "I dunno if I can give it to somebody else..."

But the trio just say they wouldn't want her to get into trouble, as if Bonnibel was ever in any danger of that, and pass her by. She turns to watch for a bit. One staggers but the others get him up and they seem to continue on their way down safely. Well, it wouldn't be lucky if it happened every time, would it?

At the top… Oh, these people certainly aren't all trial-goers, are they? Yet here they all are, past the markers. They cluster around a round platform, much bigger than the one back in Iki Town and made of concrete. Had there been a stone one before it? Had it been wood? Or perhaps it had been the bare dust of the volcano top itself, marked out only by custom.

Well. Whatever it once was, now it's concrete and surrounded by tourists jostling right up to the edges. "They say the traditional dances of Alola are meant to be an expression of thanks," one murmurs to another, a brochure open in her hand and her head bent slightly.

The pokemon - ah, they're rotted through with devotion. Strange to see that in marowak of all things. With cubone elsewhere, evolution marks the survivors, but here they're dead already and burning themselves right up.

She thinks the same might be true for the human in the center. He's riddled with muscles, the sort of thing people call healthy, but his footwork is sloppy and his chest heaves as the dance winds down. He's been performing for a while. And what a big heart he has.

Bonnibel stares at him, sizing him up. Heart attack...thirty-four, she'd estimate. He might survive the first one if it doesn't happen up here, but he'd only die to the second on its heels.

His face lights up like a struck match. "Alola! You must be Bonnibel, am I right?"

She nods, smiling back. "Yeah."

"I am Kiawe." His speech is formal as much from breathlessness as script, she guesses. "My marowak and I are students of the ancient dances that have been passed down in Alola for generations. The trial of Kiawe... You will find that it is a bit different than the trial you faced back on Melemele, but of course, you will attempt it, right?"

The crowd cheers. "Go for it!"

"A real trial battle!"

And Bonnibel says, "Of course! Thank you, Captain Kiawe!"

The marowak nod to each other and head to the center.

"Dance is sacred to the tapu, and each step of the dance must be perfect. My trial will test your powers of observation! There will be a dance...and then another. Your task will be to find the difference between the two. Begin!"

Is this what a trial is supposed to be? As he says, it's not much like the last one. She'll have to find some old Alolans here, see if they're as pleased about all this.

The marowak dance, and she has an odd thought for a moment, if people call this affair a pokemon dance even though anything ancient, anything passed down, is entirely the province of people and the steps they go through are only echoes of a human one. But Bonnibel wouldn't know anything about that, so Bonnibel doesn't think it after all.

"Middle one ended facing the wrong way, flicked her bone back and forth instead of twirling, and the steps weren't in sync." From his delighted shout of "Spectacular!" that was more detail than she needed. The middle marowak nods and leaps forward with a cry, " **To restore the honor of the dance, I must pay for my mistakes through battle!** "

"Marowak was so pleased by your right answer that it simply had to battle you!" Kiawe says.

She sends out the rockruff and orders her to bite the bone.

Dead already, after all, and burning up all that's left. She watches the teeth of inevitability crunch into the marowak. There's a struggle for a bit, then a chunk breaks under the tooth and splinters away, and the flame on either end gutters as the chip sparks along the ground and fizzles out. The hands fail. Her rockruff runs off with the bone, easily keeping the two pieces apart. The body stumbles after the rockruff for a while before slumping down.

"You showed her!" Bonnibel says, and rubs the top of her head. "Alright, give her bone back now." Tail wagging madly, the rockruff turns and bounds back, dropping the bone at the body's feet.

Kiawe isn't much of a trainer, because he thinks nothing of all of this. So, the captain title isn't earned through success in battle? The hands grasp the bone and the marowak stands. After a moment, she returns to her position like nothing happened, though the chip remains, and he orders them to begin the next dance, which looks to be a much more complicated affair.

At this point, a tourist clambers onto the platform and tries to join in.

" **Disgusting.** "

Kiawe's laugh is so practiced it could be mistaken for sincere. "Seems we have a volunteer who wants to help!"

The marowak move through their steps stiffly and identically. They come to a precise end, then the flushed backpacker staggers to a stop three seconds later.

Bonnibel points at him. "The mistake."

Kiawe makes a sound like a chuckle but far louder and sharper. "Correct! Well then - I suppose you fight him!"

"Alola!" the man slurs, throwing out a pokeball.

If this place was bigger, if she felt better about dawdling, maybe it'd be fun to send out something more Alolan to lose with, watch Kiawe watch this irreverent outsider beat them up in this sacred space then try again later, but having a trial battle play out between an oblivious foreigner's pokemon and a hated foreign pokemon is probably good enough. "Go, Rattata! You can do it!"

The man laughs heartily as his pokemon goes down. "You're a fool if you dance...and a fool if you just look on!" He does not get off the platform and instead staggers toward the three marowak.

" **Naheliliʻulauaʻe! Just show up already so we can be done!**

" **The disrespectful idiot this time won't even leave!** "

" **Don't make Kiawe stand disgraced in the tapu's eyes any longer!** "

The pokemon that appears is indeed a scorching made sweet. "Oh, is that the trial pokemon?" Bonnibel prompts obligingly. "I guess I passed the other tests!"

"Yeah." Kiawe's relief is irritating, but she's not going to be cruel just to make his life a little worse.

The salazzle is not in a good mood despite having the same glow as the raticate back on Melemele. Well, you can get used to anything. She hisses, " **I'd burn you all sooner than grant a show, but until the tapu will otherwise I must abide.** "

The crowd cheers.

Well, the marowak have what they want now, and the salazzle hasn't their pitiful exemption. She's solid still, and should learn better before that can change. So, a show? Bonnibel will give a show. "Popplio, go!"

The battle's difficult - Popplio has experience fighting two on one now but not at keeping his focus against all distractions. He's in love with her at the first breath. And he screams as the flames sear him and the poison sinks into damaged flesh all the louder for it.

Bonnibel's voice orders him left and right, forward and back. She picks attacks that are easier to for him to use - hyper voice, of course, is quite out after just seeing what it did to the krabby, but at the same time, it means water gun is almost gentle in comparison. And he can bat his eyes before a hit and cry out after one, do something of what the salazzle's done to him back.

Her victory is inevitable. The ending still takes her by surprise, though.

The salazzle stops. " **Partner, I yield to your combined might. Grant me leave to approach, and I shall bestow a crystal upon the trainer.** "

If there was any chance of it happening, Bonnibel would order another attack to remind everyone how little dressing it up in ceremony will ever count for, but Popplio probably wouldn't even hear over his delight to have this over with.

So. Second trial done with.

On the way back down, Popplio murmurs at her side, hoarse from the fumes, " **It was worth it. It was worth it because you know I love you so much. No matter how much it hurts it's worth it.** "

She leaves him at the pokecenter, along with the rest of the pokemon she was using. She leaves her bag there as well, and she climbs down to the ocean and she steps into the water and she swims out.

She's the only person there. It's not the same as being alone, but it has to be close enough. And there's water in every direction. She could just swim anywhere. There's nothing to stop her.

If she wanted, she could remember the map, could make for some island, but she shoves that from her mind. The illusion of an endless horizon is better.

And she couldn't anyway. If Bonnibel disappeared, her mother would be so worried. There'd be a hunt for her. And unless she hid she'd be found, and there'd be questions, and what good is a child who disappears on you to leave you wondering if they're dead, anyway? That's not what being Bonnibel is about.

So she just swims. She swims until there's a light in the darkness, the distorted halo that rings the actual sun's edge just visible on the horizon. And then she turns, and she swims back.

"Early bird, eh?" says a seventy-one-year-old woman coming down onto the beach, oblivious to the little pokemon that screams and runs into the rocks as she does so. "Nice to see a young person with so much drive! Still, I know it's warm and all, but a swimsuit has a lot less drag than just jumping in in your clothing! It might not seem like much, but you'll get tired faster than you realize."

"I sunburn really easily," Bonnibel tells her, "so my mom says it's better to just keep my clothes on. I know not to swim that long or anywhere deep, though, and I've got my starter Popplio, who's a really strong water pokemon!"

"Well, as long as you're careful."

Bonnibel nods. "Of course! I'd never disobey my mom."

She can't swim much longer anyway. Her limbs tremble and the warm day does nothing to change the empty chill at her center.

She retrieves her things from her unused room and then buys a hot rotisserie pidove slathered in a thick sauce from a man who explains at length to another customer that this isn't rotisserie pidove, it's turned pidove, a traditional island food that…

He similarly calls it a whole pidove, even though the pidove bodies on display clearly not only lack internal organs but the head, neck, feet, and a good chunk of the butt.

"I don't know, it's awfully black…"

This results in another gout of words about how it's not burned, it's crispy, here try, try, it's delicious. And the woman with him says, "Everyone says this is a can't-miss specialty! Stop worrying about charring and carcinogens! It's just this once."

And it is burned, but not so much as to be tasteless carbon. The sauce is a riot of competing flavors and textures: sweet and smokey and dripping and tangy and salt and crisp and hot and gummy. And the deeper meat is terrifically juicy, the moisture of the original flesh held inside by the caramelized sauce shell as the heat broke it down. She chews one leg down to the cartilage and sucks a bit on the end where the sauce was slathered right onto exposed bone, then bites into the breast. The cooked muscle comes off the rib bones into her mouth with wet ease.

What does Bonnibel want to do, having just woken up in the early morning so full of drive?

Well, other people want to have pokemon battles, so she guesses she does as well. Practice is good for pokemon, and there's no call to hunt down the harried wild pokemon here. They get it already.

Those Skull kids do not.

"Y-you might've beaten my pokemon, but I can still beat you up!" shouts the little idiot, putting up his fists.

She recalls hers. "What are you," Bonnibel says, voice dripping with disgust, "some makuhita? And even if you're no better than a pokemon, you should know better than to hit a person."

She can see the words cut in but to his credit, he doesn't back down. "Oh yeah? You're just scared. You know you're gonna get thrashed!"

Bonnibel turns her back and climbs onto the fence, because really. She doesn't have to deal with this.

"W-what are you doing? Are you crazy?"

She turns back to see that he's actually scared. He rocks, like he's not sure if he should step forward or back. She'd laugh, but, well, a laugh's as bad as a sob. "What's the matter?"

"You don't - you can -" He's breathing shallowly, but pulls himself together. "If- if you're so scared of me why don't you just hand over your stuff. And I won't do anything. You don't gotta - jump." His hands are out flat like he's trying to reassure her enough to grab.

"Oh please," Bonnibel says. "Really, that's what you think I'm doing? You should know better. You haven't jumped yet, since you're still here to be stupid at me, and I'd bet your dad actually knows how to throw a punch."

And she turns and steps off the fence.

It's not even a properly vertical cliff-face, the kind she'd need to actually climb down. Maybe a seventy degree angle at the very most, she'd guess. She hops from ledge to ledge and she lands on bits of rock and sand in seconds. She cranes her head back to see the boy leaning over, staring at her.

"That was easy!" she shouts up. "Hey, if you're so brave, why don't you follow me?"

She can picture exactly how it'd go. Second ledge, at the most, and then his foot slips. He might even still be alive for a bit when he reaches the bottom, depending on if he wraps his arms around his head.

Instead, be pulls back and out of her sight.

She sits on one of the larger wet rocks to finish off the last of her pidove. She flicks bones into little hollows under the rocks around her, Bonnibel clearly not noticing the eyes of the wimpod or the way the scraps disappear from sight. Then she climbs down into the water and swims back around to one of the proper beaches.

Another person is walking along the sand, flinging pyukumuku far into the water. One smacks into the water not far from Bonnibel's head. She watches him sink with a resigned wiggle, " **I wish…** "

There's more people on the beach now, a few trainers who are excited to start the day off with a battle. Then she continues on.

She's distracted by a scuffle to the side of the path and an acrid, hateful smell. Behind one of the tangled bushes is a pair of pokemon wrestling with such focused fury they're oblivious to the world around them. Idiots.

The pokedex struggles out of her bag as she watches. " **Stufful's cute appearance and movements - plus the fluffy feel of its fur - all combine to make it super popular!** Stufful's cute appearance and movements - plus the fluffy feel of its fur - all combine to make it super popular!"

Ugh, fine. "I wonder why such adorable things would fight each other," Bonnibel says to the air, since she can't just look the information up. What terrible luck to be saddled with the thing in the fractional blip where it's around as a novelty before everyone gets annoyed and discards the idea again.

" **Stufful are said to be extremely temperamental.** Stufful are said to be extremely temperamental."

And that junk is exactly what she deserves for talking to the stupid thing. Of course the pokedex would just have some garbage. This cut-off dribble of islands filled with people so disinterested that Kukui is desperate for one single kid to help his research out… Humans screw up enough on this stuff when they're actually making an effort.

The two stufful continue rolling on the ground as if they're the only two creatures in existence and all the chatter is no different than a gust of wind. Irritated, Bonnibel grabs a pokeball in either hand and throws them.

One bursts open and one doesn't. The freed stufful shakes his head, sees her, and then scurries for the deeper grass. Bonnibel picks up the other.

" **It's the start of your second island pokedex! There are so many new pokemon to discover!** It's the start of your second island pokedex! There are so many new pokemon to discover!" the pokedex says. " **Despite stufful's adorable appearance, when it gets angry and flails about, its arms and legs could knock a pro wrestler sprawling. A touch from anyone except a known friend sends it into a surging frenzy. It's an incredibly dangerous pokemon.** Despite its adorable appearance, when it gets angry and flails about, its arms and legs could knock a pro wrestler sprawling. A touch from anyone except a known friend sends it into a surging frenzy. It's an incredibly dangerous pokemon."

"Still… I suppose that's a better death than the marowak."

" **No matter** no **how cute** matter **they** how **are it's** cute **still not a** they **good thing** are **to** it's **die hugging them!** Still not a good thing to die hugging them!"

She was obviously not talking about herself, just as she was obviously not talking to it. Bonnibel shoves the pokedex back in her bag. " **Be careful!** Be careful!"

It is true she should get an idea of how the stufful will behave. She crouches down and pops the pokeball open again.

The stufful stares at her, tense and unsure. When Bonnibel doesn't move, the pokemon huffs and turns to go. Bonnibel recalls her again. That's all? That's nothing compared -

Of course it's nothing compared. That's why there's still one in front of her. Could Bonnibel even know about anything else? They'd still be in books somewhere, right… A book, a book - a book, fingers tearing the brittle corner as it turned, woodcut picture barely recognizable with the skull all wrong and the back legs missing and the raised scales half the size they were, when was that book…

No, Bonnibel doesn't know anything about that. Maybe when she's bigger she'll have gone to a university somewhere, and then she'll know about a few of the long-ago pokemon that were more trouble than they were worth.

The stufful proves to be plenty of trouble. Bonnibel uses her in the next battle without a problem, and the next, but the one after that…

"Oh my god! Who wants a cuddle?!"

She recalls the pokemon an instant after the sightseer insists on looking with her hands rather than her eyes. The woman starts to object but an Alolan teen had already rushed over, and he starts shouting about how dangerous stufful are, about how it'll attack any stranger, didn't she read the signs!? "And then you'll have a broken wrist, all because you couldn't keep your hands to yourself!"

The woman starts to argue. This looks like the sort of situation where Bonnibel gets a helpful lecture afterward, so she makes her escape.

She thinks about teeth crunching through torsos, of ice crystals growing from the inside out, of bodies struggling in bloody thorns, of purple blossoming under paling skin, of screams in the midst of flame. A missing leg, a broken wrist, a bite, a scratch, a bruise.

Idly, she picks at the glue in her arm, which is starting to loosen. Soon that won't have happened at all.

So the stufful is trouble. And she can be very quick, very alert, but good enough is never good enough in the end, so she'll have to deal with this before she uses the pokemon further.

Which is a lot of bother for a pokemon. But Bonnibel...it happens Bonnibel thinks stufful are very cute too, and of course she wouldn't realize just how much bother it'll be when she gets started. It's easy to keep going if you misjudge things like that, so that's what happened this time.

Bonnibel gets a room at a pokecenter. The air is thick with the static of air freshener and the walls covered in clean white paint to try to hide that it's even tinier than the last. She could close her eyes - but, it'll be hard enough to avoid visible injuries as it is. If she can't see the stufful she'll definitely get hit, and pokemon don't attack people. She can just ignore the room.

She releases the stufful and then she grabs her.

It doesn't take too long, really. The stufful has strength behind her blows but she exhausts herself easily, and she can't anticipate and adjust to Bonnibel's movements in the way Bonnibel can to hers. In just a few hours she lies gasping and quivering in Bonnibel's lap as she runs her hand down the stufful's back, then flips the pokemon to dig her fingers into the fur of her belly.

"I can't imagine why my stufful's all silly and wiggly," Bonnibel says as if to herself yet again. "I guess it doesn't matter. And it won't matter. If I feel like petting a pokemon then I'll pet them. And if somebody else does, it will too. Wiggling around just makes it take longer."

She keeps petting as the stufful gets her breath back. This time, the pokemon keeps still.

This time isn't the same as forever, of course. Some kinds of pokemon simply can't learn the rules no matter how many chances they get, and this one, who can threaten but not plead or question, is by all appearances one of them. But a time...that's still pretty good. That's still better than it would be.

She recalls the stufful and begins the work of covering the bruises from the few blows that connected. In one place the skin split from the force, but she can tack that back down with the liquid bandage and then a thicker coat of concealer.

As Bonnibel retrieves her healed pokemon in the lobby, the pokedex shoves its way out of her bag again and floats toward the door. " **Alola! Alola! Mmhmmmhmmm! This region's better than a box full of machines!** Alola! Alola! Zzz-zzz-zzzt! This region's better than a box full of machines!"

Someone in a pristinely white outfit cut oddly enough it's probably a uniform looks up at the noise, stares at the pokedex and Bonnibel, then jumps up from his seat.

He darts toward her and starts spitting out words like a rice spilling from a bag: "Hey! You! I see you've got a pokedex! And that charm, you're a kid doing the island challenge, right? Then I've got the perfect job for you! How would you like to do a little part-time work on behalf of the Aether Foundation? We at the Aether Foundation work to protect pokemon through conservation. In order to protect pokemon, though, we must know a good deal about them and how they live. Right now, we're trying to survey the pokemon in the Lush Jungle Preserve and make sure they're doing okay."

So are they supporters of Kukui's?

"Unfortunately, because it's such a vulnerable area, and because there's also concern about vulnerable plant species, we were told that any travel inside of it is strictly prohibited. Even though we're just doing a survey! But it's also currently a trial site. As an Alolan citizen in the middle of your island challenge, you would be an exception, and you can scan the area with that pokedex of yours. You know, get an idea of the pokemon, and, and their habitat…"

What's he lying about now?

"Oh, are you really worried about this place? Are the other jungles in trouble?"

He lets out a short laugh. "Well, this is the only jungle left on Akala, so I'd say so! The Aether Foundation suspects that the jungle here is the only remaining fragment of what used to be the dominant biome of this island, back before people arrived on Alola, possibly even of all the islands. And it's good that people are so serious about preserving it! But if anything did happen to it...well, we'd need to know as much as possible to be able to reconstruct it again, somewhere safer…"

Enemies of Kukui's, more like, and yet likely also Hala. Of course Bonnibel will happen to be starstruck. "That is important! I'm glad to help you out. You say that's where the trial site is? I'll just need to contact the trial captain first…"

"That's not an issue! She should be at the jungle right now, actually, so you'll run into her if you head over."

Idiot. He's lucky Bonnibel won't find it suspicious. "Oh, thank you! I'll head over right now. I hope I'm able to get you all the information you need!"

The pokedex continues its pointless nonsense: " **Time for your second trial on Akala Island? Then off to Lush Jungle! It sounds so luxuriant! I've set it as our destination! Let's get this show on the road!** Time for your second trial on Akala Island? Then off to Lush Jungle! It sounds so luxuriant! I've set it as our destination! Let's get this show on the road!" As if she needs an arrow pointing her there. Even if she hadn't seen a map already, this isn't even a big place, and of course the last of the jungle would be on the windward side of the unmissable volcano. What sort of lush jungle grows in a rain shadow? She shoves the pokedex back into her bag.

She tries to get a drink at the cafe but discovers they only have ceramic mugs and a barista who insists she sit down. "Here in our cafe space, we provide a moment of peace to our customers," he tells her self-importantly. "The reason I run a cafe is because everybody's always rushing around and busy these days."

Bonnibel will sit around when she feels like sitting around. "I don't have time to sit around though," she says like she's completely misunderstood. "I have to hurry to Lush Jungle! Oh, instead could I get…" She buys a bunch of Hoenn rice crackers wrapped in Hoenn seaweed. He arranges them in a plate for her, and Bonnibel takes it, pulls out a tin from her bag, and pours them in. "Thanks!"

"That's really not-"

Bonnibel just gets lost in her thoughts sometimes, her mom says. She doesn't mean to be rude or anything, she just doesn't realize he's saying anything because she's so excited as she heads toward the next trial, crunching into the first salty-sweet glazed wafer.

The entrance is marked off by the trial pillars, just as she was warned. She runs the fingers of one hand over the pointed tips of the repeated triangle pattern carved into the wood.

The meaning, the beating threat of it, over and over round and round, and yet all Hau could recognize of it was that it was a pattern that appeared in all sorts of places across his life.

Well. It doesn't matter, does it? So why would he know, why would any of them pay attention to it? It's just a pleasant echo they repeat because it's always been there. She drops her hand to her side. Bonnibel has no reason to pay the pillars any mind.

Those fences back in Hau'oli, that pattern of rectangular metal with the stylized half of a sphere inside...would Hau see meaning in those either? Was there any? Maybe it's just they simply like the look of pokeballs so much these days. No need to be concerned about communication. If someone happens you don't like, it goes away.

And...oh, there's one of the people who met Kukui at the docks. She's crouched, digging at some plant on the ground, a plump stoutland by her side. "Captain Mallow!" Bonnibel calls brightly, and the eighteen year old leaps up, a handful of roots dangling in one hand.

"Oh! Bonnibel!" She grins back at Bonnibel. "Thanks for stopping by! Welcome to Lush Jungle, the trial grounds for me, Mallow!" Lauti roots, that's what she has. Pulling them up because they're not supposed to be here? "I heard all about you and your team from Kiawe and Hau... Sounds like you've chosen only the finest ingredients!"

Hau must have gone here yesterday. It's the trial he'd have the advantage on.

"That's why you're the perfect person to help - I mean, that's why you should try my trial!" Is there any other reason Bonnibel would be...oh, but she mentioned Kiawe, so this woman knows Bonnibel's just done another trial and her pokemon are only patched up and not at full strength. Yes, she supposes it's plausible Bonnibel only wandered over for a look and forgot what the markers mean, being so new to this place. Curious how Mallow wants something from her, though...here she was concerned about getting stonewalled by captains.

"You are the one who got a sparkling stone straight from Tapu Koko, aren't you?" Right. Bonnibel's supposed to respond to people who talk to her. "You're so totally ready for this!"

Bonnibel nods. "I sure hope so! I know it's really soon, but this sounded so exciting I couldn't wait! And I've only just arrived but this jungle, wow!" It's so much smaller than it sounded, so sparse. She should've expected that. She blinks, feels the dry scraping between eyelid and cornea. When did Bonnibel sleep?

Mallow's pleased, anyway. Of course she is. Bonnibel is a delight, everyone says so. She's closed her own eyes and is tasting the air in great gulps. "Ah, the breath of the jungle..."

The person in white spoke like what humans did was direct destruction, like this place was spared, but there's the subtle stunting and droop of species that were made for more water than there is anymore. The air smells like screaming. Was there a pokemon once that answered?

"I can tell just what today's special should be..." Mallow continues.

Of course screaming itself uses up water. Will they be parched silent one by one before they wither, or will they spend their last drops calling for nonexistent help?

Of course Bonnibel slept. Bonnibel was just at the pokemon center sleeping. There's no other reason to be in a room there for hours. If her thoughts keep scraping and tangling and falling in the wrong ways, it's because Bonnibel is groggy.

"Yup! It's gotta be! My personal specialty: the Mallow Special! I'm gonna need you to help get four ingredients for me! I'll need mago berries, tochukaso, some...do you know what the plants used for revival herbs look like?"

Bonnibel nods. Bonnibel's fine.

"Right, some of those leaves, and a miracle seed!" She sticks the roots into a bag she's carrying. "When you're hunting for ingredients, you're gonna want to rely on my stoutland's help. Stoutland can sniff out items for you that are buried in the dirt where you can't even see them! But you'll have to face the fierce pokemon that may defend these delicious ingredients by yourself. You got that?" Bonnibel nods again. "Okay, then here in Lush Jungle... It's time for Mallow's trial to begin!"

Bonnibel opens up her bag to pull out the pokedex.

" **Ohhh… I'm not such a big fan of jungles… Where are all the comfy machines at, huh?** Ohhh… I'm not such a big fan of jungles… Where are all the comfy machines at, huh?" It doesn't even know what it's saying half the time, does it? And now what little of a rotom is there is dismayed to find that the jungle is a jungle.

"I'd like to get a good look at this place, and I bet Kukui would love all the pokedex data," she says. "So I'll try examining the whole place first. Stoutland can bark if I walk by and miss it."

It's true there are plants here she doesn't know. Bonnibel's eyes roll over and off them. Why pay attention? There's enough things she knows that nobody else does.

"Wow, you really are serious about this!" Mallow says. Her voice has something mingled with the praise. Not quite bothered, but this isn't exactly what she wanted, either? ...does it matter? This is probably good enough.

Underfoot are failed seedlings, unable to establish their roots deep enough in time. It won't be three hundred years before this place is gone.

Ah...and there's something similar here. A glimmer of red amid the grass. Nothing moving, though...there should be a paras or parasect about, to keep these corpse-seeds from just being corpses.

Bonnibel doesn't notice any of that, so she blunders right into the center.

What pops up from the ground is instead a shiinotic, his cap flashing, " **Go away! Away!** " Those made it over here? Nice for the paras, to still have their partners around. " **I'll fight! Go away!** "

Bonnibel...not a schoolbook, won't be learning that sort of idle trivia for several years, but a storybook, the pregnant mother and the theft of the food she demands, killing a shiinotic belonging to a witch or a king. They're not so long gone from Kanto that Bonnibel doesn't know them.

"Oh, looks like you've found some tochukaso!"

The stufful launches herself at the threatening shiinotic, snarling, " **What? What? Fight? No you go away or I fight!** "

The stufful isn't particularly obedient yet so before long she's unconscious and barely breathing from the toxic spores. That's fine. She'll learn that obeying Bonnibel works better than not and the shiinotic is tattered enough from the exchange that the yungoos can easily finish him off.

The yungoos crows, " **What were you doing, thinking you could beat me?** " and does a brief stomping dance, back arched.

He didn't, though.

At the rear of the group, Mallow's stoutland whines softly, " **Don't you know anything? He had no choice.** "

The yungoos glowers and squeaks at the stoutland, " **Coulda run! Shoulda run!** "

Bonnibel bends over the red growths. The right way of collecting these is to break one of the tochukaso off where it touches the soil, but how would Bonnibel know this when Bonnibel's never done that before and doesn't even know what these are? So she yanks it up and a chunk of paras shell comes out with it.

" **Oh.** "

Mallow laughs. "Nice enthusiasm, but try to break them free instead of pulling, so it doesn't make a mess."

" **Well...they...they should've...** "

"Like this," Mallow says, bending to neatly snap the connection between unborn and dead.

" **It's not my fault. Everybody knows weak stuff is food. The paras should've picked better. It's not my fault.** "

It isn't. Bonnibel recalls the yungoos. "Oh, I see," Bonnibel says to Mallow. "Like this?" And she does the same.

"Yeah, perfect!" She puts the mushrooms into her bag with the roots. "You know, there's a secret to why they're so popular with some people... You'll have to try one to find out what it is!" Does Mallow mean the taste or the fact it's a stimulant? Probably not the more imagined medicinal uses, since Bonnibel's still shy of puberty. Well, she's not going to pop a raw bit of fungus fresh from the ground into her mouth, so whatever benefits Mallow means will have to go undiscovered. "Well, that looks like it's about everything here, so let's move on to the next ingredient. Keep an eye out for mago berries, revival herbs, or miracle seeds."

Emphasis on the last one, so there's some reason Bonnibel won't be able to find it. Well, she's already decided Bonnibel wants to wander around this whole place, so that's fine. She'll wait until Mallow starts to get impatient before giving up at three out of four and having the stoutland track down the last one. Or no, some reason she won't be able to see it in particular, so if she walks all over she may find it anyway since the stoutland will bark if she misses it.

There's a mago tree, but the fruit she sees are still tiny and white and when Bonnibel approaches Mallow says, "No, those won't do. We'll have to go deeper for some really great mago berries."

So Bonnibel does.

An oranguru is rustling around to the side, following them like the self-important idiot he is.

"Oh hey, look, is that an oranguru?" Bonnibel says loudly.

Mallow turns to peer up at the leaves in the tree, trying to get a glimpse, and says, "You're lucky you managed to see one of them. They're very rare. I hear there may be a few wildlife reserves in Ushta that still have oranguru, but Alola is proud to have the only confirmed sightings!"

The pokedex, already out, obviously sees this a sign anyone wants to hear from it and its stupid thoughts that are just someone else's stupid thoughts.

" **Oranguru live solitary lives deep in the forests and do not usually take much action. Instead, they position themselves high up in the trees to meditate.** "

What's left do. If that wasn't what they always did, if these last dying fragments deserve everything they get, well, how would Bonnibel know? Certainly Bonnibel wouldn't care.

"Oranguru live solitary lives deep in the forests and do not usually take much action. Instead, they position themselves high up in the trees to meditate. **Long ago, people thought that oranguru were humans who dwelled in the forest depths, so they called them 'the people of the forests.'** Long ago, people thought that oranguru were humans who dwelled in the forest depths, so they called them 'the people of the forests.'"

Mallow laughs. "I've always found that hard to believe anyone could make a mistake like that."

" **Oranguru sometimes act on their own initiative and will use items that only humans normally use.** Oranguru sometimes act on their own initiative and will use items that only humans normally use," the pokedex continues defensively. " **Allegedly, there have been sightings of oranguru using pokeballs!** Allegedly, there have been sightings of oranguru using pokeballs!"

The pokedex goes on to chatter about how this kindly pokemon helps out others in the forest.

"Oh, they sound so nice," Bonnibel says loudly. "I can't imagine how come they're all solitary when they're so kind to everybody."

" **Oranguru don't get along with each other. They're always engaging in battles of wits to decide which one is superior.** Oranguru don't get along with each other. They're always engaging in battles of wits to decide which one is superior."

"They're supposed to be pretty difficult to raise," Mallow says. "I bet, like how in the past they were mistaken for strange people, they think we're just strange oranguru."

" **Known for its extreme intelligence, this pokemon will look down on inexperienced trainers, so it's best suited to veteran trainers.** Known for its extreme intelligence, this pokemon will look down on inexperienced trainers, so it's best suited to veteran trainers."

Intelligence.

This old pokemon rustling in the leaves so near Bonnibel when even that baby of a drowzee knew to be concerned. But the hands are almost the right size to wrap around a pokeball, so of course they're so smart and clever and almost as good as people, aren't they?

"Oh, they sound like awesome pokemon!" Bonnibel says. "It's a shame I can't catch him. Oh, but I could after I complete my trial, right?"

"Yup, if you think you're up for it. They really can be difficult so most Alolans don't bother. But don't mix your salad before it's chopped - you've still gotta get the rest of the ingredients for me!"

For a bit, then she'll dump him again to some other trainer once she's proved her point and everyone's suitably impressed how that false person of the forest obeys her when everyone knows they're so hard to handle. Maybe she'll show him off on her final trial here, let everyone ooh and ahh over how great a pokemon he is before trading him off for any other pokemon she thinks is better.

And why should he expect any better from any oranguru-of-the-city? He knows sacrificing other oranguru for the slightest petty benefit is what oranguru do best. As if false islands would keep anyone afloat if only you threw away enough weight.

"Hope he wasn't stealing any of the mago berries…" Mallow mutters.

There's more tochukaso up ahead. Maybe Mallow would like to collect more, but unfortunately Bonnibel doesn't notice and heads to the right, missing it entirely. She examines a thicket and flowers fountain out.

A less competent trainer might be too confused to respond before the pokemon escaped, but Bonnibel is a good trainer, and a good trainer responds to any wild pokemon by ordering its own to attack. The rattata darts into the bushes and cuts off the comfey's retreat with ease.

The comfey cheeps a few times, " **Stop it! Just let me go! Stop!** " and manages to connect with only a single flurry of leaves before collapsing to the ground. Mallow whistles approvingly. "I can see why Hau was talking about you. You don't miss a beat!"

The rattata swells up at the indirect praise. " **Everybody hear that?! My trainer is a great trainer who makes the best choices, and she picked me to be her partner and not any of you!** " She picks up one of the comfey's discarded flowers from the ground and eats it with loud delight, sneering down at the bleeding body.

The oranguru, having still not taken any hints, rumbles in the trees to the left, " **She'll replace you first chance she gets, little rattata. Like all trainers she only bothers with you because she hasn't caught anything better.** "

" **Ha! You dummy, she's caught loads of pokemon already! I bet she'll catch you too, and she won't even care. I'll keep fighting for her and she'll throw you away! Come on out and we'll beat you up!** "

She can't catch pokemon yet, so Bonnibel recalls the rattata. The oranguru laughs as if he thinks this proves him right. He won't even think to try to hide when she comes back. Maybe he wants to be caught, even. Oranguru always think they're the one exception.

She keeps going into the fading jungle.

"Oh, isn't this what we're looking for?" Bonnibel says, pointing to a bush with round orange fruit. "Betel?"

"Wow, you know where miracle seeds come from? Your parents must've been into gardening, huh? But ones still in the fruit are no good. When pokemon bury the seeds in the ground, they gain an especially rich and complex flavor!"

So that's why there was no chance of her seeing one. "Like furret coffee!" Bonnibel says. "My mom says it's special because they have to use beans they find in furret's soil."

"Uh, yeah," Mallow says, clearly a trifle disconcerted by Bonnibel responding to her euphemistic dodge by earnestly repeating a different one.

"I guess you were right about needing your stoutland's help," Bonnibel continues innocently. "There's just no way I'll be able to see a miracle seed that's in the middle of some soil!"

"You're doing great to recognize these plants, though," Mallow says encouragingly. "Why don't you keep looking for another mago tree or some revival herbs, and Stoutland will tell us if it smells any miracle seeds nearby."

"Okay!"

The mago tree she wants is obvious the moment it comes into view. The berries on the tree are so much larger than usual, coiling around and around, and colored red almost to the very tip. No pokemon's touched this tree.

"Perfect! Did you know, Bonnibel, that the bigger and more twisted a mago berry, the sweeter it will taste?"

No, Bonnibel didn't. She doesn't know anything more about mago berries than the general look. If Bonnibel takes classes in agriculture someday, maybe she'll see a graph about diminishing returns, the curve for price shooting upward toward infinity as the curve for growth speed pluments toward zero, but she hasn't yet. Bonnibel doesn't know to wonder why this tree has been growing untouched for so long.

A fomantis springs down, waving his claws and hissing, " **A challenger of Mallow's!** "

But Bonnibel's not surprised by this because Mallow said she'd need to battle. Bonnibel's not able to tell the difference between pokemon fighting against Mallow and pokemon who serve the captain, and anyway, who cares why pokemon do anything? No one.

She picks the yungoos. As expected, the yungoos is hesitant and second-guessing after that last fight but that fades quickly in the face of a pokemon proudly shouting his one-sided allegiance to the trial captain. Bonnibel orders her around and around, staying well clear of the lightning-fast arms. The fomantis can't turn his body even half as fast as his arms can strike and soon his smooth back is transformed into a mass of blood and ragged, dangling flesh.

A trainer might recall their pokemon at a point like this, but that's not how it works with these trials, is it? And no loyal pokemon would dare make such a decision on their own. So he keeps fighting long past the point it's obvious he's lost, because he just can't disappoint Mallow. She chose him, she elevated him, and she can throw him away again and replace him with anyone else she pleases.

Mallow claps her hands in delight. "Your yungoos doesn't even look tired!" Of course. She moved slower and slower as the battle dragged on, and once Bonnibel declared victory she sat and panted. But she's not scratched up, the blood on her is on her face and paws, so the yungoos doesn't look tired! The yungoos can just keep going and going forever, though perhaps she'd start being less obedient, start being slower to react to Bonnibel's orders, and then she would bleed and then she would be tired and Bonnibel would chastise her for how this wouldn't have happened if she's just done what she was told, dodged when she was told to dodge and lunged when she was told to lunge, why hadn't she just done what-

"Mmmm…" Mallow says, holding a coiled red berry to her face and breathing deeply. "Perfect!"

Bonnibel is thinking about the mago berries and this trial and not anything else that doesn't matter. No, she's not thinking about mago berries, she doesn't know anything about mago berries and mago berries don't matter either because she's done with that part, Bonnibel is thinking about the trial where she still needs some leaves and some berries in the middle of odd clumps of soil and she just doesn't use the yungoos again because Bonnibel wants to be fair and give all her pokemon a chance to shine even though she could because the yungoos isn't even tired.

The next wild pokemon to cause trouble fights her mankey. Bonnibel is just so super impressed by Hala she wants to see how good fighting types can be. She'll raise one up and then Hala will offer a friendly little battle since she's doing so well and he wants to be so helpful and he'll be so pleased to discover a single mankey of Bonnibel's is better than all of his combined.

Then the stoutland barks. Mallow pulls out a trowel and scrapes away at uneven ground. She holds up a couple of seeds proudly. "Miracle seeds are bursting with nutrition! They really are a miraculous gift from the jungle."

"That's so cool!" Bonnibel tells her, gazing at the filthy seeds like she's in awe.

And then it's just the revival herbs left to do. She's sick of Mallow following her like they're yoked so fine, Bonnibel happens to head over toward new ground, sandier soil and a bit of break in the canopy and what luck it turns out that's where revival herbs grow.

Bonnibel's only seen them in store windows. They're still used for humans but most people these days prefer modern medicine over bitter leaves that make your mouth feel like it's coated in foul jelly or your intestines a tangle of convulsing worms or your stomach's turned to fermenting meat, which is why Bonnibel doesn't know what taking any of them is like because her mom never gave her any.

She reaches down and her fingers brush against one and there's already the first hint of ammonia. It can't be psychosomatic how Bonnibel's breath speeds and blood constricts because none of that ever happened to Bonnibel. Bonnibel's just unusually sensitive to the smell, it turns out.

Her hands keep going to the plant next to them.

"Nope, that one's just a weed."

Weed.

Like it's the last raindrop hitting an unstable slope, understanding finally avalanches down.

A space people can't enter. Mago berries that have time to grow long and twisty. This is not her private garden but call a place sacred to the tapu and say only the worthy few are allowed in and doesn't that amount to the same thing?

"Really? I guess it's harder to know which is which than I thought…"

That person in white was watching close enough to know Mallow's schedule but it still really thought this was about environmental protection! Will the data her pokedex is soaking up be enough to finally realize?

"Now this is a fine revival herb here…"

Well. If not, Bonnibel can say things that'll happen to give the game away, even if she has no idea herself. That group seemed like they really cared about this sort of thing, enough to not take no for an answer. Learning they were kept out not from concern but because what mattered so much to them simply didn't to anyone else...she doesn't think they'll take it well.

"Its bitter bite is even a shock to pokemon, but that's what will add depth to the flavor!"

Does Bonnibel care? If the people here don't...but people do care a lot about pollution and habitats back in Kanto, so it's also fine for Bonnibel to think that it is important and help them out a bit. Bonnibel won't care all that much, she'll be doing all sorts of things, it'll just be that she always happens to have time to spare just when they happen to ask..

Mallow breathes in deeply once again looking pleased because it's never happened to Mallow either. "Ah, doesn't the fresh smell of harvested leaves set your heart racing?" That is one of the things they do.

It would be so funny if Mallow tripped and hit her head and Bonnibel had to wake her up with them, crush the volatile leaves against her face to force a seared gasp then cram them burning and bitter down her open mouth. Too funny really, since a laugh's as bad as a sob.

Another trial and another kahuna and she'll be done with this tiny island. It won't take long.

"Ooh, looks like you got everything successfully!" Mallow says. "Great! Now that we've got all the ingredients, we just need… First, come on back to the entrance of the jungle!"

They run into another two pokemon along the way. Mallow frowns but Bonnibel happens to always notice them first and never asks for any help. It'd sure be insulting for Mallow to worry about something going wrong right before fighting the trial pokemon themself, so it's a good thing Bonnibel is too caught up to be paying any attention.

Near the front, Mallow sits down on the ground, gestures for Bonnibel to do the same in front of her. She lays out some of the things they gathered from her bag along with bowl and mortar, then announces, "We're going to cook up a storm and lure out the totem pokemon of Lush Jungle! You found all the ingredients, so now we can make the Mallow Special! Are you ready to start cooking?"

Bonnibel mashes the ingredients together while Mallow encourages her to pound them into a gooey paste. They're all things with a strong smell, more like a seasoning or at most a condiment than a dish by itself.

"The aroma of this tasty dish will draw that totem pokemon right to us!"

It's not technically cooking when there's no heat involved.

Behind Bonnibel's back, a pokemon is approaching. He's not exactly stealthy, but she supposes he's doing a good enough job given how big he is and the fact he stinks like a whole bush of flowers and the way her skin tingles from the glow. And it's definitely not as obvious as Mallow's miracle-seed-eating grin.

She could ruin that by noticing early. But what are the odds Mallow would take any responsibility for it? Success is for people and failure is for pokemon.

Bonnibel can be pretty oblivious, her mom says. The pokemon looms behind her, stopping just short of touching further back, then makes a slight sound. Only then does she turn.

So, this food was made for the totem pokemon, not humans. Like a payment? Bonnibel steps both backwards and sideways. He hesitates, then his arms lash forward to snag the bowl. He buries his face in the mush.

"Bonnibel!" Mallow shouts, sounding aghast. "That's the totem pokemon! Don't be scared, prove yourself!"

Oh, right. Not a payment. Lure. Bait. Don't waste bait if you don't have to. Just a pokemon.

She's getting things jumbled with the last trial. She already figured this one out. This isn't whatever delusions of ritual and accord Kiawe holds, this is Mallow's garden and anything taking food from your garden is a thief. He showed up, so...she probably can't intervene if Bonnibel loses, but that's the only way he gets this food.

He's helped if he loses so he's still getting some payment either way. There's recent burns, the raised fractals of lightning and the round smears of flame, both mostly smoothed over with new flesh. Yesterday evening, she's guess. Hau did get on with it after all. A coincidence he'd fight this pokemon when it's dark, or advice someone gave that he was willing to take?

Her starter again? It'd be impressive to win with a disadvantage. But her thoughts are sticking like ketchup and he'd take far more hits than he'd need to and she's sick of Mallow. Be done with it.

Mankey? Sure. Why not.

The totem pokemon calls out for allies like they've always done so far, and a trumbeak pokes that beak into the mess. Doesn't accomplish much… the strategy for a lurantis is much the same as a fomantis, even accounting for how this one moves far faster than he should. And so when the trumbeak misses, her blows sink into the lurantis instead. When the lurantis manages to hit and pin the mankey a moment, the trumbeak can strike cleanly, but then the mankey is running up his arm and darting down his back again.

Bonnibel keeps the mankey focused on attacking the totem pokemon only as the trumbeak gets more and more concerned about hitting the lurantis by accident again. Then, while she's hovering too close and focusing on actually hitting the mankey with her next strike, Bonnibel orders the mankey to jump targets, wrapping her tail around the trumbeak's throat and then tearing into her wings.

It works out beautifully, really. The mankey's worked herself into quite the rage and kicks the trumbeak's head so forcefully her beak digs into the lurantis once again, getting blood everywhere, then there's the sustained crack of her wing shattering near the shoulder.

The trumbeak could keep fighting on the ground, but she just lies there flat making tiny sounds, like if she could only be perfectly still the pain would stop. She really should know better. She's just making it worse.

Mallow claps, impressed.

The other pokemon just don't get it, because even after that a castform shows up.

Bonnibel does not have any opinion about castform. Bonnibel probably doesn't even know they're an artificial pokemon and Bonnibel wouldn't know what they were made from and Bonnibel would never ever care because it is not a thing people care about.

It's be poor tactics to attack the castform. She orders the mankey back to the old strategy of attacking the totem pokemon and letting attempts at aid just do more harm. The bright sunlight does make the lurantis a slightly more difficult combatant, but really, he's a pokemon meant to have some distance between him and the opponent. He manages to kick the mankey away for a moment and get off a single solar blade, but despite its power that isn't quite enough to finish her off. Bonnibel's voice pulls the mankey out of her daze enough to scurry under the lurantis' belly.

The castform is finally desperate enough to float close trying to peg the mankey with water gun, since at least that does little damage when it misses and sometimes even puts out the flames the mankey summons. Again when they're caught up in aiming she orders the mankey to switch targets. There's a brief stomping tantrum, grinding the castform into the dirt until they're unconscious.

Fire punch to the shattered plates of the lurantis' underside. Fire punch to the shattered back of the lurantis.

" **Die die die die die!** " The mankey is vibrating with terror. Bonnibel holds up a pokeball and the scene stops.

"Wow, Bonnibel, you're strong, huh! You were really able to draw out the flavor of your pokemon in that battle!" There is a roasted smell to the clearing now, she supposes. "The totem pokemon bowed right down to you!" Mallow laughs and there's a far more delicious hint of simmering jealousy in it. "That battle was a piece of cake for you, wasn't it? I should've known - you did clear my trial challenges, after all, and I'd say they're a real doozy! As your captain, I am very proud of you, though! Here! A gift for such an inspiring young trainer!"

The crystal Bonnibel earned. Bonnibel thanks her for the gift.

"There's no doubt in my mind that you'll go on to be an amazing trainer! Like, you could even be a kahuna someday!"

Oh, she'll have to accidentally mention that to Hau.

"Do you ever think about the future, Bonnibel?"

It's clear Mallow does. "Nope," Bonnibel says blithely.

"Oh, I see." She does. How the world is opening up for Bonnibel and closing up for her. And she can mistake half of it for youthful obliviousness but the other half is that Bonnibel gets to pick and choose from Alola and Kanto and she doesn't. "Well, I've got my future all planned out! I mean, we have to move on from being captains when we turn twenty anyway. It may be ordinary, but I'm hoping to take over my family's restaurant. I think I could be an even better chef than my dad and big brother one day!"

"Well," Bonnibel tells her, "they say anyone can accomplish their dreams if only you try hard enough!" Unlike Mallow, Bonnibel's tone is perfect and doesn't so much as hint at a backhanded compliment.

"Hm?" Mallow's looking to the ground and the bowl the lurantis had grabbed. "Looks like Lurantis didn't finish all the food. Oooh, I really want you to try some! Have a bite!"

"No thank you," Bonnibel says.

"Are you sure? It's really good!"

Bonnibel probably has to be polite to the captains, so she says, "It smells like it's really spicy."

"Oh yeah, people from Kanto don't like food that's very spicy… What a shame, it's really very good!"

Mallow digs into the bowl of pokemon food.

Is Bonnibel tired? But she doesn't want to close her eyes in this sort of a place any more than she did that cramped room. And soon her thoughts will stop having the energy to roll and rattle around so she might as well keep going.

And she has that meetup, doesn't she, so she heads south.

Life's Ruin… She never did see whatever the one on Melemele looks like, so it could be interesting, especially given those statues. And it'll be nice to be with Lillie and Hau. They're both already miserable.

A bunch of kids have clustered around a subdued mudbray, clambering roughly on and off his back. So small...is that just the size these last ones are?

"...she ain't what she used to be, many long years ago! The old dun mare, she ain't what she used to be, ain't what she used to be, ain't what she used to be! The old dun mare, she ain't -"

"Get out of here!" a fifty-three year old woman shouts, running over. "You leave poor Kele alone!"

"It doesn't care!"

"Can't you see it's sick?" she demands. "Now get and stay get!" She shakes her fist at them and they scatter, then runs her hand over the back of the mudbray's neck. The pokemon doesn't react. His head lists above the grass. "Oh, Kele..." The woman mumbles something about being strong and things getting better, like he won't be the rest of the way dead within the week. Must've inherited the pokemon from a sibling or a spouse. Should've released him if she wants to pretend there's any other way this ends. Or maybe she did and he just didn't leave. Mudbray were never good at keeping away from people.

She waits, and the woman goes back inside. Bonnibel walks over, pulling out the rockruff's pokeball.

The rockruff looks confused, but when no orders come and she sees Bonnibel is only sitting quietly on the ground, she bounces over to the mudbray and licks his nose. She barks, " **What's your name? I'm Leimomi!** "

The mudbray regards her silently for several seconds, then lets out a long breath. " **...Kuaolauka.** "

Not like knowing his own name mattered. Is it a consolation, to die still remembering that much?

The rockruff barks a lot because what a nice day it is, such an odd day to be so sad, and the mudbray huffs and wheezes about the death of a woman some months ago.

"You have so much energy, Rockruff," Bonnibel says. "Do you suppose this mudbray was ever like that too?"

The mudbray wheezes, " **A good person, a good trainer, she gave me treats and let me roll in fresh dirt after I had to take a bath.** "

" **My trainer is great too! She feeds me and pets me lots. Do you think...will you get to be with her forever and ever?** "

He shakes his head very slightly. " **I think we can't follow them where they go.** "

It's not about choices, after all.

Afterward, as the rockruff trots at her side, Bonnibel says, "Did you know, Rockruff, that these little islands are the only place mudbray can be found anymore? But they used to be really important to people all over, because they're in all sorts of old stories. Like, there's this one about how great and smart old people are, where there's a scary monster who lives in caves deep in a forest. A bunch of people set out to kill the monster, but they're worried they'll get lost in the caves and die. So they ask the oldest person in the village, and it tells them to bring a mudbray and her foal. They lead the mudbray into the mouth of the cave, then they cut the throat of the foal and bury him. After they kill the monster, they set the mudbray loose and as she calls to her child and hears no answer, she becomes more desperate to find him, and she keeps searching for the way they came until she makes her way back out as they follow her, so they all lived. Do you suppose mudbray are proud to know they've been so useful for so long?"

The rockruff is very quiet for a while. " **That story doesn't make any sense. If he were at the cave mouth he could have called back so she'd find him. Killing him would just have got them all lost forever.** "

"It's a shame people don't think they taste good, though. Then maybe they'd still be around like tauros."

" **That's not right either! They're everywhere, everybody knows that. Are you being silly? Saying opposite things for a joke? You can't fool me!** "

"Hm… I wonder if the pokedex knows anything about what happened to mudbray."

The pokedex lights up and starts babbling, " **Mudbray could once be found all over the world, but it was overhunted and ended up on the verge of extinction.** Mudbray could once be found all over the world, but it was overhunted and ended up on the verge of extinction."

Overhunted? What an archaic way of putting it, but she supposes that's true enough. They'd say poaching if it happened now, some combination of too many being caught and not enough being bred and most of them dying instead of returning.

" **But they're everywhere!** "

" **It's said that the Alola region is the only place in the world where mudbray can still be found in the wild.** It's said that the Alola region is the only place in the world where mudbray can still be found in the wild."

" **R-really? What about me? Are there rockruff in other places?** "

Bonnibel shoves the pokedex back in, then picks up the rockruff and bumps noises. "Look at you barking away! So much more energy than that sad old mudbray. Do you suppose, if people took rockruff off the island, they'd spread across the other regions? Would you do better than the mudbray? Would you be smart enough not to end up like that?"

" **I know to be good! I am good! I'll be so good you'll never ever want to get rid of me!** "

She sighs.

The rockruff thrashes about in her hands. " **No no I'm good I'm saying I'm good!** " She licks Bonnibel's face desperately.

"What a friendly pokemon you are," Bonnibel says, and the rockruff calms. "You're so sweet, I could eat you right up."

" **I am!** " The rockruff's tail wags again.

The pokedex is right that there are still wild mudbray around, even if, like the rest of the pokemon on this island, they're doing their best to avoid the plague of people. Bonnibel orders the rockruff into the grass and has her fight until she's exhausted.

Then she comes across an outright pileup of tourists, a stressed little kid, and a gathering of sudowoodo holding broken tree chunks to seem like they're more than they are.

"It's just that they're upset. Seems like they're so petrified of Lana now that they don't even want to see another waterium crystal after she smacked them down with that z-power of hers," he's saying to the crowd, his words the rapid patter of someone who's already said the same thing several times and doesn't understand why it isn't working. "So they're getting in everyone's way to make it hard to get to the trial site. My sis already went to get Lana and - "

"But we have to visit Paniola today! We're on a schedule!" a man says, like he didn't hear a word.

She doesn't want to be stuck around. Bonnibel sends out Popplio.

"No, no, we have to wait for Lana! There's way too many here and it'll be dangerous!"

"Don't worry," Bonnibel says. "I can handle it."

It's not even hard, really. Popplio's anxious at the start, and sure, there's a bunch, but they're not coordinated. They trip over each other's attacks and hang back fearfully as Popplio flings water around. Plus they're still all potmarked and fragile from whatever this Lana did to them. They're here from desperation, not strength, and that always ends with more of the same.

It's a long and tiring battle, but Popplio bounces up and down in front of her at the end, honking excitedly, " **We beat them all! There were so many and I won against all of them!** "

And she keeps going until she comes to...

It's not like it's needed really not like the sounds and smells aren't enough for it to be obvious but there's a sign too saying it and Bonnibel would go there wouldn't she Bonnibel has no reason not to Bonnibel is walking there now.

Bonnibel is talking now.

Bonnibel's fingers tap one two three four against her thumb. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four.

Bonnibel is done and goes out the door and down the steps.

There's a fence in the back, because the pokemon would leave if there wasn't.

She stands on tiptoe, reaches down and pets the top of the sylveon's head as he strains to reach her fingers. His tendrils coil and rub around her arm. Her other hand grasps the wooden beam.

"You must be the one having all the eggs," she says. "The woman said there's enough that there's an extra, so I guess someone's called your trainer and said to pick you up."

It's not a choice they made.

She rubs the ears of the miltank and scratches the tops of their necks. They're the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the tauros Hala keeps, because that would be a choice too, to keep those groups from overlapping. His own flesh would be far too stringy, but the same genes that made for tough muscle under her hands then makes for rich marbled steak under her hands now.

Someone tells her to stop distracting the pokemon eventually. This isn't even a daycare, after all, experiencing anything else isn't the point. She pulls her hand back, she unlocks her other hand from the beam, she says sorry she hadn't realized but she'll remember now, and she walks away from the fence.

She wonders if Lillie would have noticed them. Of course they want to be there, she hisses at the imagined girl. Of course they do they'd leave if they didn't.

And Lillie might say - might say anything or nothing, it doesn't matter, does it, whether some kid says some thing once. No point hearing what anyone says today when none of them say it tomorrow. It's not even worth thinking about.

It's these cramped islands with too many people. She just...she'll get their crystals and their accolades and she'll leave. It's fine. Rushing through this place is fine, that's why Bonnibel ends up feeling she wants to keep going afterward, has to travel to other places to continue her journey.

"Hey, you okay? Your hand…"

She looks down at them. There's blood oozing from lines on the left palm, from where wooden edges were pressed too hard into the skin. "Oh, it's fine, thanks," she says, smiling at the trainer. "I tripped and scraped it a bit on a rock, but it looks worse than it is. It's already stopped hurting." It's the back of the hand that's got the real damage, both already stiffening with inflammation. She'll be sunburnt up the tops of her arms and down the back of her legs well beyond anything makeup can hide tomorrow. "Hey, are you a trainer? Let's have a battle!"

And then soon the crowds are growing and she's found her way to Paniola Town.

" **Ah... Now this is a mighty fine place. I reckon I could get to like it here, partner.** Ah... Now this is a mighty fine place. I reckon I could get to like it here, pardner."

Not very likely. The ground is dirt trampled harder than some stone by too many feet, and buildings are all planks of plain wood, conspicuously battered and peeling. Not exactly the sort of place that's any good for a rotom, but exactly the sort of words she'd expect to be in the pokedex's map data. Brainless lines of code are calling more of the shots than the pokemon.

"How rustic," a woman murmurs.

Sure. Even if the reason it's falling apart is because none of it was so much as seasoned properly before being hammered into place, and even if some bits have peeled back just enough to show they're only a facade over a modern frame. It's not even from the kind of trees that grow around here.

But it's worth paying to keep importing wood and paying people to keep repairing it if it means an endless stream of other people paying to be there and buying whatever's on offer. Bonnibel queues up with the rest. The ice cream flavors themselves are more of the same from Kanto, but they're also willing to stick milk on anything and everything, so she chooses a slurry of ice bits and flavoring goo with sludgy condensed milk poured over it. "Half-off for you, cousin!" the boy at the window says. "And good luck on that island challenge, yeah!"

It tastes different than the last one she had back on Melemele. The condensed milk doesn't do much but mute things as a thin layer of fat congeals over her tongue, but the ice this time is ground so fine it's almost a powder and the syrup is more strongly flavored as fruit instead of just sugar. She pauses a minute to let her mouth warm, then scrapes her tongue against her teeth to clear off the cream so she can get a better taste of the spicy-sharpness of the pinap flavoring.

"They say that back in the days when there was nothing here, not even this town, the people and the tauros used to roam in hordes," says a man to a child, reading off some booklet. Bonnibel's mother had similar things. The island tauros aren't officially considered a separate breed, the way the rattata are, but they're smaller, calmer creatures than the ones found elsewhere, the sort it's safe to travel with. Apparently their better temperment wasn't as useful as the greater amount of steak Kanto tauros make, because all of the younger ones she sees are muscled up hybrids from the one Hala keeps.

"Hey! Bonnibel!" Ah, and there's Hala's other problem. He waves at her excitedly, an eevee egg in the crook of his other arm. Must've been coming down from that place. She slides her eyes around it, stares at Hau's grin. "I heard you were headed here! Check this out! The lady at the nursery said I could have it because it was an extra. She told me they're really tough, that even if I tried to crack it open it won't break open until the pokemon inside's ready."

Yeah that's true hey we should play kickball with it it'll be fine it'll have fun.

It wouldn't be their fault, the woman should've known better than to joke, might even get in trouble for it. But Bonnibel doesn't say that. What's one more nameless child?

He laughs a bit awkwardly. "Anyway, glad I ran into you... So we can see who's stronger now! My gramps must've thought I did good enough in my grand trial, 'cause he gave me a z-ring, too! Having a battle in a place like Paniola Town feels like we're in a real old-fashioned Western showdown or something, right?"

So there's Alolans who can't tell the difference between what was here and what is here too. Well, how would Hau have learned what things look like when this is his first time off Melemele.

"This is so cool! Though if we're real honorable cowboys, we've gotta make sure our teams are healthy first."

"No worries here," Bonnibel says with a wide smile. Then, like there's any question, "Yours?"

"We're all ready! Awright, Pikachu and Torracat! Let's show this newbie what Alola's got!"

He wants to win. Maybe his grandfather had some words, though Bonnibel doesn't think so. More likely someone else back in the city, or perhaps Mallow. Regardless, there's desperation hovering just a little closer, the knowledge he has to prove himself eventually.

If she keeps winning, he could just give up.

And he doesn't deserve that.

She could just lose, let Hau pull out a narrow win to give him hope and keep him thrashing about like one day he'll be able to breathe. But he's already so good at lying to himself when he's done nothing but fail, he's already spent so much time believing things will work out for him, and how long would he be honestly happy at a victory? Longer than she can stomach.

So she baits him a bit. Her yungoos is too exhausted to fight long, so she barely manages to outlast his pikachu. When his clumsy with newness torracat sets the yungoos alight, Bonnibel recalls her and Hau pumps his fist in the air.

Then out goes Popplio, and Bonnibel is the victor.

Hau puts his arms back and plasters on a smile. "Ma-a-an, that was some kinda battle! Our pokemon all look like they had a blast, too!"

Popplio certainly did. He's bouncing up and down on his tail, clapping his fins together and honking, " **She picked me because I'm a winner! Aren't you sorry now? You guys will never beat us!** "

"Right then. Here. I'll share my bit of good luck with you, Bonnibel. Tutu gave me a bunch of these, so you can have some too!"

Bonnibel takes them. She hopes he'll tell Hala what he did.

"You know how the totem pokemon are all, like, surrounded by some aura of power? If you use a dire hit on your pokemon and manage to land a critical hit, that aura won't mean a thing!"

She waits, and he fills the silence: "You know, pokemon battles are just, like, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But you're really only a loser if you don't have any fun while you're at it. Right?"

"I guess," Bonnibel says, like she's never thought about it. Why would she when she's not the one who loses.

"Yeah. Anyway, I'm also glad because we've gotta go meet up with Lillie in a bit, right?"

"Yeah."


	6. that married humans

Bonnibel rolls the dire hit capsule Hau gave her in her hand. "Have you tried these out yourself? How did it work?"

"Great!" Then his whole body seems to stutter as he realizes he doesn't know if he should be bragging and upbeat about this. What if she's struggling, what if he makes her feel bad? What if she wants to go slower and he's rushing her? What if she gives up and it's his fault? "I, Tutu said, since I picked Litten, so there's three different trials on Akala, and they're grass and fire and water, so I went to Mallow's trial yesterday because that'd be easiest for me. We almost lost, her trial's totem pokemon is really strong. But Pikachu and Torracat got a lot of great hits in! That's when Torracat evolved, actually." And he'll never care if his pokemon wanted to go slower, and he'll never have to care.

"Oh yeah, the lurantis," Bonnibel says idly, like it means nothing at all to her. "He sure was pink! Alolan pokemon are just so cool."

Hau stares at her, now with no idea where this conversation's supposed to go.

"I haven't seen the captain in charge of the water trial yet, though… There were some sudowoodo yesterday who were causing trouble for no reason and someone said she'd show up, but she didn't before I shooed them off. Have you met all the captains before already?" Bonnibel asks.

"I, well, all of them were on Melemele at least once for the island challenge and fought Tutu, so sort of, but not as captains. I don't usually get to know the visiting kids…"

He's not being very honest there. Stopped getting to know them as he got older, Bonnibel guesses.

Bonnibel considers if she should bring up what Mallow said about her becoming a kahuna. But no, they'll be with Lillie soon. Much better to blindside Hau with it when she has an audience, and Lillie won't like thinking about battle prowess either.

She does want to keep pushing, maybe mention Kiawe… "That's a shame," she decides. "I'd have liked to know what people like Captain Mallow and Captain Kiawe were like when they were our age. They seem so adult now! Captain Mallow told me that she's thinking of becoming a great cook once she outgrows being a captain, and when I went to Captain Kiawe's trial I found out he was a great dancer with his pokemon. And I wondered if they always knew that was what they wanted or if when they were our age they just wanted to be trainers but they realized they wanted something else when they grew up."

Hau just starts chattering away like the two options she gave are the only possibilities, as if oblivious to the looming weight of Mallow saying, "I mean, we have to move on from being captains when we turn twenty anyway." But no, he wouldn't get it, would he? Not the kahuna's prince of a grandson, too busy worrying over being good enough for that to think about how things go for everyone else.

Bonnibel must still be a bit groggy, because really, that's pretty obvious. She's finished the flavored ice so she'll get something else, caffeinated maybe, before they go.

Bonnibel's mouth opens in a huge yawn. "I just can't seem to wake up!" Bonnibel says, smooth and casual like she's not thinking of how this is just another reminder toro Hau of how easily this all comes to her. And in return he crushes down his reaction to just the slightest flinch in his smile. "Maybe I should get coffee ice cream or something, what do you think?"

He nods with exaggerated enthusiasm. "I can't wait to try Paniola ice cream!"

He really is excited as they scoop up fudge ripple out of a barrel shipped in from Kanto.

Bonnibel gets more powdered ice, this time with a cappuccino poured over the top and then a dusting of coffee grinds, finished by a reassurance she can come back and get some sugar added, no charge, if she likes. It's as delightfully bitter as it is cold.

"It's cool you like pyukumuku," Hau blurts out halfway through his cone. "I know most people don't."

"Really?" Bonnibel says, sounding faintly confused like she's misunderstood him. "I thought they were popular here." Bits of ice slide around on her tongue as she speaks, contrasting with the friction of the rougher coffee grinds.

"Alolans love them, but, usually not the tourists so much." He laughs awkwardly. "It actually, uh, a long time ago there were arguments about cleaning them off beaches and if it was disrespectful, but if you don't clear 'em off, then the tourists will go to some other beach, so…"

"I saw that!" Bonnibel says. "Well, the pyukumuku don't mind, right?"

"Yeah, it's fun for them getting thrown. They always come back to get thrown again, so it's a lot of work. It's just, like...uh, there's some old sayings about chucking fat pyukumuku, and people pretending to be helpful when really they're not, and it was, some people thought it was like, they didn't think it was a good idea." Far from the whole story. But even if she pressed, she doubts he really knows the whole of it either. "And it's just, well, if the tourists only liked them too then there'd be nothing to argue about."

Against the skin of Bonnibel's neck, the pyukumuku wiggles, " **They don't kill us on purpose much.** "

The nurse at the pokecenter calls Hau up to get his pokemon. She doesn't call Bonnibel, of course.

"Is Bonnibel's yungoos better yet?" Hau asks, because he's oblivious to the fact the yungoos was exhausted and battered before the fight even started, and the nurse says not yet.

"It's fine, I'll get her later," she tells him. "I wouldn't want to keep Lillie waiting." And then she adds, "Besides, I've got plenty of pokemon, so I'll get out a different one! It's fun using different pokemon, isn't it?"

Hau nods hard like putting enough force behind the motion means he actually agrees with her. On his shoulder his pikachu squeaks, " **He wanted to be best friends with us, not just anybody!** "

There's no point in telling the pikachu anything, so Bonnibel switches topics. "It's so busy on this island, don't you think?" Hau confirms that this is the most popular island, something he simplistically attributes to the awesome volcano. That's where he'll be heading next.

"You've been up there already, right? What was it like?"

Bonnibel tells him that Kiawe's such a great dancer that the trial had a huge crowd of tourists watching. She goes into detail about how fun it was, like a big party, and how in the middle a man climbed onto the platform. That's the part Hau flinches hardest at. Kiawe must have long ago made his peace with whatever important rule was spat upon there, saving his bile for personal disrespect, because in comparison Hau barely minds her going on about how some drunk tourist played a part in the trial itself.

She wonders how Hau'd feel about Mallow's own irreverent use of space, but it's hard for Bonnibel to have a reason to bring that up when Bonnibel doesn't know anything about that. And odd to learn that the captains aren't so concerned with the whole of their traditions when it sounded like upholding those is their real job. She hasn't quite gotten a feel for things here yet, it seems.

There's angry voices up ahead, and she perks up. Something fun? "Sounds like there's a problem," Bonnibel says to Hau, who nods and rushes ahead.

Bonnibel does not.

There's a blond boy in clothes he outgrew at least a year ago standing in the middle of a smaller path, shaking his head as a pair of tourists run off, a zubat flapping and shrieking behind them. Lillie's parents must have been quite the pair of narcissists.

"Hey, you!" Hau says. "What do you think you're doing?"

The boy glowers like he's practiced in front of a mirror. His hair's over one eye but apparently that's not enough so he fidgets, hand half hiding his face, his other clutching at his arm. Well, he's put in effort and made the best of what he has. Bad posing doesn't look as ridiculous as hugging himself while threatening people would.

Hau stumbles to a halt and realizes too late that Bonnibel is not next to him. But he can't admit to that, so he tries to puff himself up much like the other boy has and pretends he meant to be the hero and says, "Hey! Stop that!"

"Make me."

The zubat scoots back. He flaps around the boy's head and screeches. " **Yeah! You guys go somewhere else! Nobody gets past here!** "

"It's a fight, then!" Hau says, and his pikachu hops from his shoulder.

The zubat starts to flap forward. "Don't," and then he continues with the most atrocious thing she's heard in Bonnibel's life: "Shoutbuddy."

Evidently Hau doesn't know Kalosian, because the fact this boy just proudly said with his own mouth Criopain goes by without a wince.

"Null will handle this." Newer pokemon he nicknamed recently? Perhaps the zubat is a pet from when he was far younger.

...she is newer. These days they can stitch things together without scars, it seems. It's uncomfortable to look at her, like the muscle beneath Bonnibel's skin breaking into a tangle of worms. She puts a hand on her bag to keep the pokedex in.

Bonnibel's eyes flick from the thick metal helmet bolted onto her neck to oversized claws of her front feet to the sliced clothing he wears. The tear across the chest of his mangled hoodie looks to be from the jagged edge of the helmet itself.

It probably weighs...at least fifteen kilograms, Bonnibel guesses as the pokemon collides headfirst with Hau's pikachu and sends him flying, more if she's had it for a while and knows how to carry herself with it on. Probably has. She doesn't overbalance and though Bonnibel can see the strain of her muscles as she moves, the motion is smooth, if slow. The torracat is dispatched just as the pikachu was, the new pokemon barely reacting to the desperate blasts of fire.

"Ha ha ha! Man, I lost again!" Hau puts his hands behind his head and a grin on his face.

The other boy glowers even harder. He puts his own hands to his hips - ah, no, his wrists, hands turned outward and hovering millimeters away from his waist. It really undercuts things. Someone tell him not to stand the other way? She can almost hear him whining that he hasn't got his hands on his hips, they're not touching anything, he's doing what he's told, he's following the rules. Like technicalities matter. "Are you even taking this seriously?" It manages to look halfway serious when Lillie does it, even though he's the one who should've had more practice.

"I am!" Hau says, like piling on more good-natured irreverence will make people stop being mad about it. "So seriously! I'm seriously enjoying it!"

"...Enjoying it?" The boy closes his eyes like he's trying to keep a lid on his temper, but the hardest part must be figuring out where such a puny temper's gotten to. He should go home and check the cushions. With what is probably his very best growl, he continues, "You can enjoy pokemon battling when you put everything you have into it... which clearly you haven't."

Hau looks over to Bonnibel. "Hey, Bonnibel, this guy is plenny scary!"

And there's no emphasis to that. No edge of surprise or irony at the contrast. Bonnibel forgets the boy for a moment to stare at him. This should be obvious enough for anyone to put together. Does he really not…?

"You're Bonnibel?" Lillie's brother says, like the name means anything to him. Maybe Lillie's been talking about her new friends?

"Yeah, that's me," Bonnibel says, because she is Bonnibel.

"Hmph. Not very cautious. Even some pokemon have a better sense of self-preservation than you apparently do."

Bonnibel's smile could eclipse the sun. "Why would I care who knows? I'm not some pokemon. Hey, you seem familiar..." She taps her finger against the side of her face. And he just seems confused, so he doesn't know her from Lillie because he doesn't think she has any reason to know him. He must've just heard of Bonnibel for the standard reason, the young prodigy everyone talks about. If nobody knows who anybody is today, then Bonnibel doesn't know after all either.

She wonders who she'll see cry first. This boy seems more fragile, but it's Lillie she has the greater opportunity with. Hm, hm, but she has more opportunities with one than the other because Lillie's off by herself… "So she runs to the top of the tower, crying out for help, and she sends a solar beam up into the sky, and her brother sees it and rushes to rescue her." Not much to go on, but it's worth a jab.. "...yeah, I can't place it, but…yeah, I don't know why but I don't think you're half as tough as you're acting. You just have the sort of face that makes me think of someone who cuts and runs first chance he gets."

She gets lucky. His face freezes like he thinks he'll shatter at the first movement.

Hau looks quizzical.

To her disappointment, he pulls himself back under control relatively cleanly. "Hmph." Then he says like it's a prepared speech, "I'm Gladion. I battle for my partner, Null, to make it strong." Yeah, people are just so selfless like that.

"That's so selfless of you!" Bonnibel tells him. "But from the looks of your clothes, she's already stronger than you can handle," Bonnibel says. "Ran into trouble getting that thing on her, huh?"

"You don't know what you're talking about."

A low monotone of a whine comes out of the helmet, " **It must not be removed. I won't let him.** "

Huh. But what's the point in bolting something on that a pokemon doesn't want to come off?

He huffs again. "Most of our time gets used up doing small jobs for Team Skull." He points at her, all drama. "Battle me. I won't take no for an answer."

What happens if she has the mankey attack the helmet? But Bonnibel doesn't know that she wants it on and he wants it off, so Bonnibel has no reason to aim for it.

The helmeted pokemon is strong enough it's a close battle, but, does he get that doesn't really matter? If one pokemon loses Bonnibel has another five. Pretty clear all he has for backup is a pet zubat.

Yet he's so mad at the loss! Eyes wide, face even whiter like it's his blood being spilled, staring at his curling fingers like he wants to claw his own skin off. His voice is the only thing he has at all under control, just a clipped, "How annoying!" like that's a curse while his zubat circles around making tiny bursts of noise, " **No - no - Gladion - don't -** " instead of staying quiet in case that anger finds a new target.

Bonnibel watches with interest as he pulls himself away from a complete meltdown into just trembling anger. Frowning, furious, one arm around his side and other hand back on his face to hold together and she could grab it and pull it down and then the other when he tried to raise it and it would be like bending the arms of a little glass figure it would be like snapping the end off a glass teardrop and he would break into a million pieces before her and it's a shame she left with Hau isn't it, a shame she didn't come by a little later when Hau had already slunk off and there was no one else to see what happens or Bonnibel happens to do.

"Hmph…" And he walks toward his downed pokemon. "It's not like me to slip up like that."

Bonnibel rolls her eyes at him. "I've got more than one pokemon," she says, because apparently he needs Bonnibel to spell things out for him.

But he just goes, "Hmph," again like that's not what he meant. He strokes the dull grey feathers on his pokemon's neck like an apology, as if this whole thing wasn't entirely his choice, then mutters, "I've got to keep fighting stronger opponents. Looks like I'm still not ready…"

"What?" asks Hau, like he's actually interested in this conversation. "Strong opponents? You gotta battle a lot to be great, I guess, but battling should be fun!"

"Don't you think fun's important?" Bonnibel echos.

The boy keeps his eyes on Bonnibel, and she thinks of what he said about the self-preservation skills of pokemon and what he thinks virtues are. He knows better than Hau about fear.

"That kid there," the boy says, gesturing to Hau without looking. "His pokemon aren't weak. And sure, it's fine to enjoy battling…" He says it like he's memorized the sounds from a phrasebook, then his voices heats: "But this brat... he's just using that as an excuse not to try hard because he can't beat the kahuna. Because he can't beat Hala when he's serious!"

She would laugh but a laugh's as bad as a sob, so Bonnibel just says, "So you already know Hau then! What small islands these are!"

"You know my gramps?" Hau says at the same time, like he doesn't understand that everyone does. "Wait. So you think I'm strong?"

This boy was more precise than that, wasn't he. The way Lillie talked, like she had all the right answers but then the world upended beneath her feet. It's easy to hear her voice babbling something stupid about pokemon being strong or weak like it's got nothing to do with the trainer.

The boy just scowls even harder. He opens his mouth.

"Awww, look at you, little Gladion!" calls yet another kid from back in the small path he was blocking. "Aren't you just a real cool guy? Heh heh heh…"

"I guess it's no surprise a homeless kid would turn out spineless, too, huh?" says another. They swagger out in their dirty black and white clothes. What sort of homes are they so proud of? "No worries!" continues the girl. "We've got enough backbone to cover for you!"

"Just give it up already." All the anger's drained out of Gladion's voice. Disappointing.

"Huh?"

"You know you can't beat me." He turns his back on Bonnibel and recalls the pokemon from the ground, then the zubat from his shoulder. His entertaining little ticks have faded out, and it's so inconsiderate of these children to change the situation to one where he thinks he knows how to behave. "So you won't beat her. You'll just get your pokemon hurt for no reason. They're good pokemon."

Well, someone needs to teach him how to talk properly. "They have good pokemon?" Bonnibel asks, all surprise. "I've fought a couple of numskulls in those outfits, but none whose pokemon were any good! Are you two any different?"

"You won already!" he barks at her, and he throws out his hand in a wide gesture. "Come on you, you know you won! Just forget it! They'll go!"

"We came all this way, and for what?" demands the numskull girl. "For a big fat waste of our time, thanks to you."

The numskull boy groans but then shrugs. "Let's get out of here. Look, the murkrow are crying, and it's time we should be flying."

And they do start walking. The girl shoves Gladion's side hard. "Listen up good, Gladion… The boss does like you. That's true. But you're just some hired help we keep around for when we need you. You aren't part of Team Skull, not really. And you never will be. Got it? You better get it."

Hau is loudly silent. Then he turns and his face transforms into a wide smile. "Thanks, Bonnibel. And Rockruff, too. It was a good battle! Phew... Looks like I've gotta train up my team if I'm gonna take on the trial at Wela Volcano next!"

So Bonnibel smiles back. "I'm sure you'll do great against Captain Kiawe's trial!" And she says, "Even that mean thug had to admit you were already strong!"

Hau almost doesn't wince at all.

Then, loudly so her voice will carry, "Right!" and she smacks her hands together. "We still gotta meet up with Lillie at the hotel!"

Gladion trips over his own feet. The girl exclaims and grabs him by the arm before he can hit the ground. He pulls away and he keeps walking.

And she and Hau walk the other way.

It's even more fun when they reach the hotel and find Lillie by the wall the farthest corner of the lobby.

"Oh! Bonnibel, Hau... I'm sorry... I saw some people who looked like those Team Skull thugs and I got scared. I was trying to avoid them and then I think I ended up missing my meeting... Oh! But don't worry. It's fine."

She smiles at them and then she starts blubbering.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Lillie wails, pawing at her face and shaking in terror. "I'm so sorry I don't mean to be crying I don't know why I'm crying I'm sorry!" Then her bag starts thrashing and she has to take her hands from her face to try to hold that closed and she's sobbing so hard she's doubling over. She cowers on the floor, wrapped around the bag with an endless stream of apologies falling out of her mouth.

Such a shame Hau's here.

"It's okay," he's saying, as well as some babble about how it's fine to cry even if you don't know why you're sad. Well, that's their choice, isn't it?

"It's okay," Bonnibel says as well. "We're not in any rush, right Hau? Lillie, you should stay here a bit longer. Maybe the person you're waiting for will still show up. We can go visit the ruins another day."

It doesn't matter how long Lillie waits anyway.

Lillie doesn't stop crying but she gets quieter and says, "Thank you," a couple times.

"It's no problem, right Hau?"

"Right, absolutely, it's no problem, no problem!"

Since they're not going to the ruins after all and Hau, she reminds with such sincerity, is going to do Kiawe's trial next but she's already been, they split up, with her going off to the pokecenter to retrieve her yungoos again. But she's already done two trials, and Bonnibel can't just leave Hau in the dust already, so she'll have to find other entertainment.

She gets a bowl of marinated pyukumuku chunks and goes back to where she met Lillie's brother.

"Yungoos!" she says around the lump she's sucking on. "You've got a good nose, haven't you?"

The yungoos squeaks, " **I have! The best there is!** "

Bonnibel herself has no tracking skills. That wouldn't make sense. "I had a pokemon battle with somebody weird here. I think it'd be fun to try to follow him, don't you? Now, there were three people here but they probably split up. The one I want had a zubat and a pokemon you've never met."

On her neck, the pyukumuku wiggles, " **I don't see how you'd know she never met a pokemon. There's many pokemon I've seen only once and the intervals it occurs at suggests many more remain seen never. The odds of you knowing which are seen and which not are exceedingly low.** "

"The other two were filthy but his clothing was worn from too much washing. Can you follow the path of those smells in particular?"

" **Oh, I could do it with a nose full of dust! Yeah, I can smell him easy. We finding him for Lillie?** " The yungoos spends a while sniffing around where the awful pokemon had been. The yungoos only looks curious, so maybe not as awful as all that.

Just picturing the pokemon makes her itch but...a cellular chimera's immune response would be different, they have gotten pretty good at cloning, and maybe that's why there's no stitching or gangrene? It was theorized as far back as Bonnibel doesn't know anything about any of that and doesn't care. "Oh no, can you not tell? Maybe I should try with my rattata instead…"

" **No! No, I got it already, follow me!** " the yungoos squeaks and runs off in the direction he left in.

They don't get far before they run across even more idiot children.

A mudsdale whinnies, " **Oh, another person's come?** "

And the woman facing the kids turns around to face Bonnibel. "You there, Trainer," she says, all formality. "Can you come to my aid? Over here."

They don't need aid. Although her drifloom's weak, her mudsdale can handle this by himself. And she's not even acting the part, because someone needing aid wouldn't have lazily turned her back and completely ignored the supposed threat.

"Yo, yo, yo! Don't go turning your backside on us!" shouts one of the kids. Even they get it. This is insulting.

"And YOU! You're that numskull trainer from Melemele, yo!"

The woman says, "These scoundrels are pokemon thieves. And you're on familiar terms with them?"

Ugh. So it's like that, is it?

Someone acting like this is someone expecting to get away with it, so arguing that this kid pointing and shouting insults is hardly the kind of familiar terms that demands justification...certainly this must be the type of person who thinks the worst sin is not playing along.

"Well yeah, I know them," Bonnibel says, piling all the distress she can into her words, like it's so upsetting how this horrible misunderstanding is happening and that this stranger whose opinion she so values would think ill of her and she just doesn't know what else to say.

Besides, it's good for everyone to know that Bonnibel is terribly honest and would never lie.

"Yeah, that's right, you do!"

"I am Hapu," the woman says, facing them again. "Life in the big city sure is something else. Pokemon thieves roam about brazenly..." She glances up at Bonnibel and gestures at the one to the side. "Hmm, I leave that one to you."

"We're not thieves, yo! It's a legitimate business!"

Like that would even matter. Do they think it does? Do they think if they didn't break a rule that would protect them, that anyone would speak up in their defense? While they look like that, while they talk like that?

The other boy with his hair freshly dyed an inhuman blue tries his best to stare down Bonnibel. "We got straight messed up in Melemele...got exiled to Akala...but we ain't goin' out like that!" Then they look to each other, nod, and wave their arms about.

They should've spent less time synchronizing their gestures and more time training. The boy's drowzee has more sense and cringes to see Bonnibel again. Her yungoos barely gets in a few good bites before the other pokemon has retreated all the way back to his legs.

He should kick his pokemon forward again, but he's a terrible trainer in all other ways, so what's one more? "Bone-dry!" the boy exclaims, recalling the drowzee. His companion's zubat has already been stomped into the ground. "With all these losses, we're gonna anger our bosses!"

"These tears taste like salt, yo! It's all your fault, yo!"

They should be more grateful for the choices they get.

" **Supposed to feel bad you didn't steal me?** " the drifloon whistles.

The mudsdale whinnies louder, " **Cry for real!** "

And then the woman's voice lashes out, "Mudsdale, shall we stomp these scoundrels?"

No. But the attack is in the words, in the threat of treating them like they're no better than the zubat, and they flinch from the sound like a pokemon does the strike of a hoof.

"It'll be a mess to clean up afterward," the woman continues, loud enough that everyone around will hear, loud enough to know everyone else knows and know they approve, "but I am willing if you are."

And they know and they step backward and then they run. The woman doesn't care about the noises they make in the process, even as one boy demands to be listened to, so Bonnibel doesn't either.

"You'll be fine getting home?" the woman says to the drifloon.

" **Hope I don't run into any more of them...** " The drifloon begins to drift away.

The yungoos squeaks, " **You should've fought too, puffhead!** "

"Oh, she isn't your pokemon?" Bonnibel says. "It's so nice of you to help out her owner!"

The pokedex pokes out of Bonnibel's bag. " **Drifloon are formed by the spirits of people and pokemon. It loves damp, humid seasons.** Drifloon are formed by the spirits of people and pokemon. It loves damp, humid seasons. **Because of the way it floats aimlessly, an old folktale calls it a 'Signpost for Wandering Spirits.'** Because of the way it floats aimlessly, an old folktale calls it a 'Signpost for Wandering Spirits.'"

Old. They've only even been around this side of the world a few hundred years.

" **Stories go that it grabs the hands of small children and drags them away to the afterlife. It dislikes heavy children.** Stories go that it grabs the hands of small children and drags them away to the afterlife. It dislikes heavy children."

But luretern have been gone a few hundred more, haven't they. The stories would be close enough that if you said it was about a drifloon no one would think anything of it. It's not like anyone remembers pokemon once they're gone.

Those thin white wings around the glow of their heart. "Those lights must be people." Could have heard that ten thousand more times without being tired of it.

But that's why they're gone and Bonnibel never gets to hear it once.

The woman nods agreeably. "Glad to see that one will get home on her own. I've got you to thank for that." That's what these kids don't get, after all...play along and people play along back. "Give me your name, Trainer."

A title may be sufficient but it's better to be precisely, "Bonnibel."

"Bonnibel, eh? That's a fine name. I like the way you handled yourself in battle. Mudsdale and I are always wandering all about Alola to try to achieve our goals, so perhaps we'll meet again someday. I am indebted to you for your aid, after all."

The mudsdale neighs loudly, " **Ha-ha!** "

She turns to him and nods. "Ah yes." Then back to Bonnibel. "You might want to try your hand at a battle royal or two, Bonnibel. Mudsdale here thinks you'd be well suited to it, given how strong you are."

"That's so nice of him!" Bonnibel says, because you always believe whatever a trainer says about its pokemon.

The woman nods again and clambers onto the mudsdale's back. Well, hips like those, she's certainly not walked all about Alola.

"Well, Yungoos, after all that can you still track the person I want to find?"

" **Of course!** " She takes off, heading west.

The area turns from managed trees to actual parkland, filled with pink flowers and benches for people to sit while enjoying them. The air is thick with the smell of them both.

A smattering of oricorio sway amid the plants and people, all trilling similar sounds, " **Gotta be calm, yeah, gotta be calm, yeah, be calm.** " They don't move away from the yungoos as she travels by.

The pokedex shoves itself from her bag. " **This oricorio has sipped pink nectar. It relaxes by swaying gently. Its enemies' hearts melt at the sight of its gently swaying hips.** This oricorio has sipped pink nectar. It relaxes by swaying gently. Its enemies' hearts melt at the sight of its gently swaying hips."

What a nice way of putting it. If everyone feels better for looking at it, then the pokemon themselves must be relaxed themselves. If that's not quite what was said, what does it matter?

There was no sign of these flowers in Mallow's garden, no sign of them on the tourist's volcano, no sign of them on the routes between. She bends to touch a leaf, then the soil below.

This bit of decoration is the only place to find these flowers, isn't it? They don't grow in what the island is now. People prepared these beds with loam and tended them with water and fertilizer.

" **Gotta be calm.** "

And she hasn't seen any sign of the yellow flowers that grew on Melemele, and the pokedex did say each island had a different oricorio, and they die without one of them or else people would know more about the pokemon by now.

" **Yeah, be calm, gotta be calm, yeah.** "

But that's nice, isn't it? It makes for a good attraction, so many here, swaying and pacing about with nowhere to hide.

" **Gotta be.** "

There's only so much to be done when this place is a mishmash of attractions, though. Some people are sitting and enjoying the flowers or offering scraps to the oricorio clustered at their feet, but others are carrying heavy bags or rushing by toward something loud around the corner to the north.

" **Zoinks! What're you waiting for! Let's go! I wanna see that Battle Royal Dome for myself!** Zoinks! What're you waiting for! Let's go! I wanna see that Battle Royal Dome for myself!" The pokedex flies into her face, the screen displaying a close up of the map with a red flag stamped on it. Bonnibel shoves it back into her bag and continues.

The yungoos bolts back to her and runs up her leg. " **I found him! And the weird thing! She's even weirder than she smelled back there!** "

"Shhh."

His Null is indeed out. She hasn't been to a pokemon center. He may have doused her in potions but she moves normally with just an edge of deliberation as if she still feels the bites and bruises, so probably not. His hand is on the dull feathers of her shoulder again, and looking for it now, Bonnibel can see there's a gradient of color with the topmost a bit shinier and yellowed from the extra oil of his hands while the bottom ones darker and shaded brown from all the ground-in dirt.

The rest of the people flow around the two of them, but not much differently than they would any trainer and pokemon. Maybe a bit wider of a berth, but really, less than if anyone took idiot children playing at being criminals seriously. He's been around here with his pokemon often.

"Why do I do this…" he says to the air. "Every time something brings me down, I end up coming right back here again…" His fingers scratch at the base of the feathers. "Come on, Null. Let's go bury our sorrow in the crowd."

The pokedex manages to wiggle free just as the two disappear through the doors of what must be the Battle Dome. It beeps excitedly about an unknown pokemon, then decides to provide what information it does have. " **The heavy control mask it wears suppresses its intrinsic capabilities.** The heavy-"

"Quiet!" Bonnibel sticks it back in her bag again. Why would she want to hear about that?

If he's just going to sulk here, she might as well move on. He'll refuse to fight her - probably even if his pokemon were healed he'd refuse, and she can hardly shame someone already getting spat on by delinquents about not being a proper trainer. And she can't push hard or do much else fun with so many people around to have opinions about how Bonnibel should be.

No, she'll go to that market, see what's on sale.

She finds cast-offs. Piles of stale, cracked cookies and crumbling crackers from other regions, surplus milk, overstocked soda nearing its expiration date, pallets of generic dry goods, even boxes of a defunct brand of bottled water from Sinnoh. There's ample meat, all the bits other people didn't want to eat: lean, tough cuts from Hoenn, hooves and tongues from Unova, and buckets upon buckets of pidove oil glands from across the world.

Near the back she even finds the reverse, the food not good enough to be shipped away and left for Alolans to eat. It's mostly the boney bits of sea life, the heads and the tails… Some of it was once preferred, but these days people don't want to see eyes or teeth, and apparently even Alolans spurn the guts. There's whole pokemon as well, but only bycatch like mantine and jellicent, as well as packs of frozen wimpod. There's some slowpoke tail, but it's pink-tinged, clearly the more bitter edge of the preferred white tail-tip.

She wonders if Alolans are provincial enough to not see the snub in every bite. Probably not, not when they spend their time catering to tourist tongues.

Bonnibel doesn't eat the scraps from someone else's table. Still, it's nice to drift around the isles and see how Alolans live, and when she leaves, it turns out to be just in time for more loveliness.

Kiawe's voice is miserable. "I see…"

"Kiawe, I'm really terribly sorry about this, but I've thought long and hard about this decision. If it comes down to people who are counting on this job to make a living, and you…"

The man radiates shame. Maybe it's meant to be apologetic, but all it does is make Kiawe crush down his own feelings to reassure him, saying, "It's all right. I know how hard you've worked to open this location after the guardian deity destroyed the previous one in anger. I understand, boss."

"Kiawe... I've given you as much as I can afford. Spend your final paycheck wisely."

"Thank you very much."

"I hope your dream of studying dance abroad comes true someday. I have to keep working hard here to make my dreams for the Thrifty Megamart come true."

"It's okay, boss. You can head back in now."

"Thank you. I'll be seeing you."

A laugh's as bad as a sob so it's good that Bonnibel wouldn't find this funny.

He'll never make it off these islands. Will he think of that while his heart twitches and trembles in his chest and agony runs up and down his arm and he gasps for air thinking if he only works hard enough he'll be able to breathe?

It's unlikely she'll get to see it happen. But she'll have to make sure to visit when she comes back fresh from the travels he's denied, and maybe he'll see Bonnibel's blithe smile in his mind's eye as the world beyond goes dark.

She could just go, but…

Without the boss who isn't his boss any longer to be strong in front of, he's slumped down, looking defeated. His face is mostly composed but there's tears hovering at the edges, ready to burst.

Not his first attempt at getting the money, and a dream he's had long enough everyone knows it.

No, he could use some encouragement. He deserves it.

"Oh hey, Captain Kiawe!" she calls.

He wants a pokemon battle, of course. Watching pokemon hurt each other always cheers people up. Bonnibel is so nice, so she drags the fight out so it isn't obvious how quickly she would win, and if Bonnibel isn't good enough to hide the fact she's doing so, if really the fact she feels bad enough for him to do so just really grinds rock salt into the raw bloody meat of the wound, well, Bonnibel tried her best.

"So strong... I should've known. You did clear my trial, after all." It still works to take his mind off things. Kiawe's not really a trainer, so she can only hurt him a little this way. Just a few extra pricks that won't matter much. "By the way, did you overhear what we were just talking about?"

Much better for Bonnibel to be too honest, too bad at lying to spare people's feelings properly, a sweet girl who just isn't any good at this. She drops her eyes, admits, "Yeah, kind of…"

He tells her about how he wants to be a professional fire dancer. It isn't about tradition with him, it's love of the dance itself, that's why it hurt so much more to have the man mock what he's dedicated himself to than violate the boundaries of the trial. "I've been saving up forever to go study dance abroad. But I was just laid off from my part-time job. It seems like nothing ever goes right…"

And if Bonnibel is too honest to pretend something to make people feel better, it follows that she'd be just perfect at displaying real sympathy, doesn't it? Because that's how it works. Everyone always knows just what you mean and just how you feel unless you're lying. So Bonnibel listens and makes the right sounds at the right points as Kiawe rambles, and eventually, feeling better, he finishes, "Sorry. I didn't mean to trouble you with my problems, Bonnibel. You're so easy to talk to, though. I feel much better after talking with you. Thank you for being there."

He deserves it.

Before they separate, a disturbance starts up. Another kid in dirty black and white is shouting with her chatot, disturbing the peace and the people.

"Ywhonnado!" squawks the chatot.

"Hide the scars to fade away the shakeup!"

"Ywhonnado!"

"Why'd you leave the keys upon the table?!"

"Ywhonnado!"

"You wanted to!"

"Ereyho kretnuthherable!"

"You wanted to!"

"Habbarush a huttaletle hakkup!"

"You wanted to!"

"Ydehucars tuhadeaheyssakcup!"

"You wanted to!"

"Wryudhu lihveteykeehupuntaytayhul?!"

"You wanted to!"

"Ywhonnado!"

"Here you go create another fable!"

"Ywhonnado!"

"Grab a brush and put a little makeup!"

"Ywhonnado!"

"SHUT UP!" a man shouts at them.

"WOO HUTHUT!" shrieks the chatot back. "NUKKRR!"

"You tell him, Wawa!"

"Excuse me," Kiawe says. He looks down, as if he has no choice about what he's choosing to do. "I've got to deal with that."

The girl puts a hand to the chatot on her shoulder at Kiawe's approach, like she cares about protecting her pokemon. If she cared she wouldn't look like that. She wouldn't let her pokemon play games people don't like. She'd keep her mouth shut.

All cursing him out does is get the threat of a pokemon battle to resolve this. It's only half an empty bluff, because he throws a look to Bonnibel. But Bonnibel doesn't have to do it because, still cursing, the girl leaves, holding the chatot tight to herself.

Next… Well, there's still the jungle to poke around in, isn't there? And someone else deserving what happens.

She'll go around Paniola. Because, she's already been there and Bonnibel decides it's more fun to go different ways, to see everything she can.

Surrounding the town turns out to be the actual ranches, though gilded to a pastoral shine.

"But I can't even put him through his paces if he bucks at every little thing like this," someone says.

" **So go away! Just give up! Give up and leave me be!** "

Ah, and there's the downside of ignoring temperament and breeding for looks alone.

To someone who knows nothing of how tauros work she supposes this one might seem like a good choice for riding. He's smaller than Hala's, closer in size to the island line, but he's terrifically stocky, wrapped in bulging muscle that yes, speak well of the strength and stamina to carry someone. But they also mean he won't, and worse, there's that twitch to his muzzle and roll to his eyes that speak of explosive violence under stress.

And everyone knows what happens to pokemon like that.

Another rancher gets an older miltank over, a dwarf compared to the ones found on mainland.

What happens is inevitable and the miltank can guess as much, but she does a good job of the motions. There was surely a time when this always worked, when drawing herself up and bellowing an order would be enough to make any younger tauros or miltank fall back in line, but those were different creatures than now.

Her cries after are quieter and more frustrated. " **Ungrateful, stupid… You don't get to choose what you like! They'll choose something, and this is the best you can get!** " Then she just huffs, turning her head a little. She's already pulling herself back in.

His tails are lashing so furiously they strike his back. " **I don't care! I'd rather get eaten!** "

It's easier to say now than it will be, when he's in the narrow corridor surrounded by blood and screams with nowhere to go but forward. The miltank is quiet. A pokemon doesn't get to be as old as she is getting upset over every inevitable end.

"Well, they do say the stronger the tauros, the harder it is to control," says the second rancher, speaking with such absoluteness that she must have no idea that this was not a common saying anywhere else.

Alola is so small that things must be forgotten easily. Everyone else who breeds tauros knows by now they can have berserker tendencies and that it's an easily masked trait. It must have been completely bred out here, and now they can't tell the difference between willful aggression and something more dangerous.

"Maybe if he burns off a bit of excess energy, it'll be a bit easier to bring him to heel…"

And look at that, they're really insisting on not working this one out.

"Hey there!" the man calls. "How'd you like to have a pokemon battle, trainer?"

Oh, Bonnibel would just love to help, wouldn't she? She hops over the fence and trots over. "Oh, with that big tauros?"

They explain like she didn't just overhear it all.

She smiles at the miltank. "You did your best, huh? Not on you he won't listen." The miltank eyes her, then snorts suspiciously, trying to catch a scent. But Bonnibel is actually Bonnibel, not just a bit of paint over fur. "Well, sure, I'll battle!"

"Then don't hold back! Go all out against this one!"

"I've only just become a trainer," she says, with a little nod to the miltank who deserves a confirmation, "but I'll do my best!"

He'll be killed before long, no matter how this goes, and Bonnibel was asked to do this, after all. This is what they want. She backs him the rest of the way against the fence and watches panic flood through him, has her yungoos tear at his belly and set him to thrashing in a blind rage. It'd be easy to knock him out but she makes sure to drag the fight on until he doesn't have the energy left to keep standing. The yungoos works out well, the pokemon more and more hesitant as the fight continues and the blood covers the ground, like it's any mercy to hold back.

Yeah, he'll be easier to bring to heel now. Easier to put through his paces. And maybe, after this battering, he'll behave long enough for them to think the problem's solved for good. They'll send him off for some kid, he'll buck, and maybe someone will die and maybe it'll only break its back, and either way he'll have his throat cut for it but that was always going to happen.

"Had enough fun?" asks one rancher, pulling on one horn, and he staggers upright with a soft lowing.

The other rancher thanks Bonnibel for her help.

The yungoos is quivering too, then begins to clean the blood from her fur in rapid, jerky motions. " **Sorry. I'm sorry. Sorry.** "

"It was nothing," she says. "I hope his training to be a ride pokemon goes fast now that he's burned off all that energy and is ready to listen! He looks like he'll be great at it." She picks the yungoos up carefully, pushing her hands underneath the pokemon's hind feet so as to not interrupt her cleaning.

" **Why did you hate him so much?** "

"Weren't you a big help," Bonnibel says as she heads away. "He sure was a headstrong pokemon, wasn't he? And did you see how he flew so easily into a rage? How silly he was!"

The pokedex pops out again to blather on about tauros and she shifts the yungoos to balance on one arm so she can shove it back into the bag with the other.

"Apparently, he wasn't interested in learning to be a ride pokemon because he had so much pent-up energy or something. So we wore him out and now he'll behave for a while."

The yungoos considers this, staring intently at Bonnibel's face in silence. " **So are you angry he wasn't listening to people? But a while isn't forever. And you're not going to be around here to hurt him the next time he won't listen. Did you do it only because one of those other people asked?** "

"I sure hope he does good and gets certified, don't you? It'll be fun, people getting to ride about on a pokemon like that. You were in your pokeball so you didn't see, but Kahuna Hala's tauros is a bit like that, and he was really fun when I got to ride him for the first time. It was so much fun I could barely stay on. Don't you think it'll be better for him to get to do that before he ends up hamburgers?"

The yungoos is quiet, then returns to grooming the blood from her fur. She keeps grooming even after it's gone, going over each millimeter again and again. Bonnibel rubs a hand down the length of the yungoos' body and then quickly up, mussing every strand of fur, then sets the pokemon on her head. "Now you're up high!" she announces brightly. "You're as tall as a person, isn't that fun?"

Above, the yungoos chitters, " **I don't understand you.** "

"It's so good for pokemon to obey their masters. It makes me think of the story of the tame watchog and the wild watchog. You see, there was a farmer who inherited a faithful watchog named Sultan. Sultan had belonged to his father and cared for him and his farm all through his childhood, but in the passing of time and the deaths of the farmer's parents, Sultan's eyes were now dim and teeth came loose in his skull. One day the farmer was standing with his wife before the house door, and said, 'Tomorrow I intend to behead Old Sultan. He is no longer of any use.'"

Atop her head, the yungoos keeps chittering, " **I don't understand. Why are you saying any of this?** "

"His wife, who felt pity for the faithful pokemon, answered, 'He has served us so long, and been so faithful, that we might well give him his keep.' But the man laughed at her and said, 'You are not very bright. He doesn't have a tooth left in his mouth, and no thief is afraid of him. He can go now. If he has served us, he has eaten well for it beneath our table.' Now the poor pokemon, who was lying stretched out in the sun not far off, heard everything, and was sorry that tomorrow was to be his last day. He had a good friend, a wild watchog, and he crept out in the evening into the forest to him, and complained of the fate that awaited him.

"The wild watchog considered for a time, then he said, 'Listen, kinsman, be of good cheer. I will help you out of your trouble. Tomorrow, early in the morning, your master is going with his wife to make hay, and they will take their little child with them. Then I will come out of the woods, and carry off the child. You must run swiftly after me. I will let it fall, and you will take it back to its parents, who will think that you have rescued it, and will be far too grateful to do you any harm. On the contrary, you will be treated royally.' This idea pleased Sultan, and it was carried out just as planned. The father screamed when he saw the wild watchog running across the field with his child, but when Old Sultan brought it back, he was full of joy, and stroked him and said, 'Not a hair of yours shall be hurt. You shall eat free bread as long as you live.' And indeed, they went home at once to make Sultan some bread soup to not hurt his mouth chewing, and even gave him a pillow to lie upon. From then on Old Sultan was as well off as he could possibly wish.

"Soon afterwards the wild watchog visited him, and was pleased that everything had succeeded so well. 'But, kinsman," he said, 'you will just close one eye if, when I have a chance, I carry off some of your master's stored fruit.' What do you think Sultan said?"

The yungoos chitters, " **I think-** "

"'Don't count on that,' answered Sultan. 'I will remain true to my master.' Now the wild watchog thought that this was not spoken in earnest, and he crept up in the night to take away the fruits. But the farmer, to whom the faithful Sultan had told the wild watchog's plan, was waiting for him and hacked off his head with an ax. So you see, it's good for pokemon to help humans."

The yungoos is quiet and still, and for a while Bonnibel walks with just the sound of rustling from wind and fleeing pokemon. Eventually, the yungoos moves, dropping onto her shoulder and trying to stare into Bonnibel's face like there's any answers there. The yungoos squeaks quietly, " **Why do you say awful things? Why do you tell a story where the only one who helped gets betrayed? Why do you like stories like that, why did you like the story about how humans wanted me to die?** "

"I wonder if my next pokemon will know that story," Bonnibel says. She can see the jungle ahead, see the twin pillars marked around and around with sharply pointed triangles. "Oranguru are supposed to be so smart."

And the oranguru is waiting for her, and since he's an oranguru no doubt someone would point to that too as proof of the species' cleverness.

It strikes her that the pokedex talking about long ago beliefs was more right than it could ever know. He doesn't mistake himself for a person of the forest. He stares at her full of haughty arrogance but the idea he could ever be even her equal - no, those died long ago. It's as impossible to him as it was to Mallow.

But then, it's not such a change. He doesn't need to imagine he's as good as a person to be sure he's better than any other pokemon, that the rules for them don't apply to him.

" **You have shown yourself to be impressive, but you'll have to -** "

She's allowed to do whatever she wants to wild pokemon, so it's fine to use two. His unimportant pokemon noises are cut off as her rattata and yungoos attack him.

" **No! Two on one - you're not supposed to! Fight me fairly or not at all!** "

She's allowed. That rule is for people.

He tries to retreat. Bonnibel sets them circling him as he keeps trying to find a way to get back in control of this. Each time he tries to flee she orders another attack. Then he gives up and fights in earnest. Then he holds up his hands. " **I yield. You are skilled enough to be my trainer.** "

The rattata doesn't hesitate as Bonnibel orders her to press on. The yungoos does but obeys.

When there's nothing more to be wrung from the battle, Bonnibel walks up and makes a show of examining him. "Hm… I dunno. I guess I'm supposed to catch pokemon for the pokedex, at least. What do you guys think?"

The rattata dances around him, squeaking, " **Let me eat him right now lady, let me crunch open his stupid head and eat his stupid stupid thoughts!** "

The yungoos chitters, " **You don't care what we think. Why are you asking? I didn't want to do this at all. You're going to do whatever's meanest.** "

" **Don't talk to the boss like that!** " The rattata shoves herself into the yungoos' space, making the other pokemon pull back a moment.

Then the yungoos recovers and shoves her nose forward again, trying to push the rattata backward. " **Shut up! You're just horrible like she is, that's why you like her! Well she doesn't care what either of us say!** "

" **Why aren't you grateful!? We're winning everything now!** "

" **We already won! She didn't care!** "

" **You don't care when you're eating us! What's special about him? You think he's better than me? He's a loser bleeding in the dirt! And you try anything and that'll be you too!** "

The yungoos shrieks, " **Like I'm scared of some fat rattata!** "

Bonnibel's hands are stiffening from sunburn but she's not taken by surprise by the conflict and recalls them both before the rattata's teeth can draw blood. She rolls the rattata's pokeball in her fingers. Boss is fine, isn't it? Transferrable. There was another before Bonnibel so there can be another after Bonnibel.

Right, anyway… She squats down by the oranguru. "Well, seems you've got nothing else going for you but you are rare, so I guess I'll try you out? I mean, might as well, right. I'm not in a rush right now, I can fool around with a weak pokemon for a while. I'm probably good enough to win even with you."

The smell of blood is...it wouldn't make sense to call it homey, but it's so familiar, like a puzzle solved so many times the pieces slot together without a thought, and it masks the rest of this place enough. Blood smells so vibrant and alive.

She takes out the stuffed pyukumuku, puts it on the ground and rests her head against it like a pillow, placing the real one against her face.

When Bonnibel peels the pyukumuku from her eyelids later, she sees a bit of white and purple disappearing back into the canopy as another oranguru flees her awakening like any other pokemon would.

How many are there here? Bonnibel didn't walk to the edges of the place, but it's certainly small, and oranguru each need so terribly much space to be the unique and sovereign exception in. She'll have upset things by removing one, and small things are unstable. Maybe the tiny colony Mallow's all proud of having will tear itself apart like the rest before it. Maybe the person in white will cry its stupid eyes out, like there haven't been ten thousand things that mattered more than some oranguru betraying each other to try to be the one and only special exception of the forest.

She doesn't get up immediately. Her sunburn's bad enough to have raised honey-yellow blisters, some the size of golf balls. She nips a hole in the skin atop one on her arm with her front teeth and the faint salty-meaty-sweet of lymph fluid drains over her tongue. The ones on her fingers are smaller so biting them would remove too much skin. Instead, she gets a needle from the mini sewing kit to stab them neatly.

By her side the pyukumuku wiggles, " **It's strange how quiet this is. Many of the times I saw a person with red skin, the person shouted so much. Both times a person had yellow lumps everyone was noisy.** "

Deflated, they're less noticeable, but the stretched and swollen skin now makes for ridges around the edges. She bites away at the excess until it lies flat, then licks away the iron-sweet blood before tacking the remaining skin down with some of the liquid bandage. A thick layer of concealer on top and you can barely tell anything's wrong.

The blisters across the back of her legs are harder to see but she's flexible and besides, she can do it well enough by touch. Unfortunately, one's formed right behind her knee. The area's in too much motion for anything she puts on to last, but people won't be looking there much. If they do… Bonnibel got a cut from a branch springing back into place, a sharp strike that was just enough to break the skin without doing any more damage.

She's had enough of this dying jungle. Time to continue.

When Bonnibel lets the other pokemon out to eat, the fight resumes with barely a hiccup. The rattata shoves the yungoos back from the dish. " **Go starve! You don't like the boss you don't get her food!** "

Popplio honks, " **Leave her be!** "

The yungoos hisses, " **Shut up! You think she cares you do this? Lick her belly all day long and she'll never care about you!** "

" **She got bit for me!** "

That's problematic.

Bonnibel could kick the rattata. The pokemon's being disruptive, Bonnibel could be annoyed. But the rattata would just come back more willing to prove herself, more desperate to find evidence of favor. Kicking makes things worse more than it makes things better.

The yungoos stops hissing, then chirps, " **I'm sorry for it.** "

" **You'd better! She's the boss and you do what she says! She knows what to do and she has the food and she calls the shots!** "

The yungoos is quiet. The rattata huffs and begins eating from the yungoos' dish. Then the yungoos squeaks, " **I didn't think the oranguru is better than you. It wouldn't be right to do that to you either. It wasn't right I tried to bite you back then. It isn't right to do it at all. It's fun for her to hurt pokemon! We're not doing it for any reason, she has so much food she doesn't even care! Don't you feel bad about it?** "

" **No.** " The rattata sits back on her haunches, head held high. " **Decisions are the boss' job. What's right is doing what the lady says, whatever it is!** "

Popplio barks, " **Yeah, you're supposed to do what she says. And you should! She's not mean at all.** "

Off to the side, the mankey hoots, " **You're all talking like you know what's going on. You don't. This one's weird! You can't just assume everything you idiots!** "

" **She's not weird! She's a good trainer! She's the best trainer!** " Popplio honks.

" **Yeah, dummy!** "

The mankey waves her arms. " **You can't be the best and the same as everyone else, stupid! Being the best is already being weird!** " She points at Popplio. " **And how can she be the best? How many days has it been even? She's doing an island trial and humans do that to learn to be good at it and she hasn't got anything to learn!** "

The rattata squeaks, " **Lady's got talent.** "

" **That's not how talent works! Other trainers are nothing like this!** " The mankey smacks her three-fingered fists into the ground. " **Why doesn't anyone pay attention to anything ever!** "

Popplio honks, " **Is so. Everybody knows that there's great trainers who are good at everything forever and their pokemon can beat anybody.** "

"It's strange how my pokemon aren't eating," Bonnibel says. "Maybe they're not hungry."

They quickly turn to their dishes but the mankey gives her a look as she does so and hoots, " **Weird, weird!** "

How terrible this little mankey is at explaining things. So much building up in her clever head like a lidded pot, insufficient bits of water and air whistling out. Bonnibel's hand reaches out to run fingers over the top of the mankey's skull. "You love chatting with the others, don't you? What great friends you are. I know! You must be bragging about beating the totem pokemon in the jungle! You had so much fun."

The mankey seems far from evolving, and it shouldn't be hard to keep things like that. And if that seems like it'll change, well, Bonnibel got bored of raising a mankey after all and put her away for good.

It's not like it's wrong. It's just Bonnibel happens not to keep this one long enough. And no one will question that either because no one questions anything so long as you succeed.

And.

Well.

If she makes a mistake, it was nothing that wasn't happening anyway.

Everyone knows mankey don't become anything else.


End file.
